密やかな旋律

Preface

Hi and welcome to Hisoyakana Senritsu. The idea behind this site is to provide exposure to some lesser known, ie. non-mainstream musicians. It is important to note that this site is not about selling songs for these artists, it is not about writing everything positive about them and trying to convince people that they are the best musicians in the world (like most fansites do). Ultimately, music is about personal taste and there is no right or wrong, nor absolute best or worst. This site serves to provide some exposure to the music created by these musicians through music samples and introductions, allowing people to feel if it is their cup of tea. If one more person gets to appreciate and enjoy new music through this, then it has served its purpose – more so when these musicians are not widely known.

Inspiration

If you’re looking for the more common/popular genres of music, all it takes is to turn on the radio. Word-of-mouth is another way of spreading music. Although one cannot help but wonder about those musicians that never get popular enough to be put on radio, or talked about by most people, yet still work silently, unnoticed by the majority. This applies more for composers – people who compose instrumentals or vocal songs to be sung by other people.

I’ve also come to enjoy writing about music when I was including a small section about the accompanying soundtrack when writing game reviews. And after reading several small blog posts about music, this site – Hisoyakana Senritsu is realized, with a humble aim to introduce a few lesser known musicians that I adore. If you’re wondering what “Hisoyakana Senritsu” means, it can be literally translated to “Hidden/Secret Melodies”.

Style of Music

Both vocal songs and instrumentals will be introduced, however the focus will be on vocalists/composers and pure composers. Partly it’s because I feel that a true musician can only express himself/herself through a piece of music that he/she writes. While I do not disagree that there are a lot of talented singers who do not compose their own songs, they will not be able to create an atmosphere or style that defines their music.

Genres of music introduced will be mostly New Age, Ethnic, Traditional and Fantasy. Instrumentals will be touched as well as vocal songs – from rich, multiple chorus/chants songs to melodic piano solos. Instrument-wise, most focuses on strings (violins, piano and harp particularly, not so much on guitars) and traditional wind instruments.

Some of the music introduced is doujin (同人) music. Definition of doujin can be read below. In layman’s term, it means indie music and it is generally not sold commercially in big album stores.

Quick Samples

Nothing beats listening to the songs themselves when it comes to music. Below are a few quick samples on the styles of music that will be featured. It doesn’t cover everything, but it gives a general idea on the type of music involved.

Note: The stream uses Adobe flash. Additional “sample” link is included if the stream doesn’t work, although do try to update to the latest version of flash which can be found here.

• 志方あきこ (Shikata Akiko) – EXEC_CHRONICLE_KEY/. (vocal/chant) (sample)

• MANYO – 殻ノ少女 (Kara no Shoujo) (instrumental) (sample)

• 霜月はるか (Shimotsuki Haruka) – ユラグソラ (Yuragu Sora) (vocal) (sample)

• 大谷幸 (Ootani Kou) – 自由の鳥 (Jiyuu no Tori) (instrumental) (sample)

• Secret Garden – Prayer (vocal) (sample)

• 川井憲次 (Kawai Kenji) – 孤独な巡礼 (Kodoku na Junrei) (instrumental) (sample)

Doujin（同人）

Doujin is a term used in Japan to refer to amateur self-published works, which are usually sold in doujin conventions held a few times a year. Doujin work includes manga, novels, art collections, music, games, and others. Doujin music is often unofficial re-arrangements of original songs, however there are also completely original creations. In particularly, it is the latter that will be touched in this site.

Circle (サークル)

Circle is a Japanese term to describe a collaborative music group. It is not uncommon for artists to work in several circles at the same time, and albums made will be released under the name of the circle.