AERONAUT

(Kaze no yukue)

japanese version by PREFIX
(TK and Mairi)

When I first heard the wonderful music of Prefix I immediately thought they would be the ideal duo to tackle the japanese version of the song. Everything was there, inspriring music, skilled composers and producers, a beautiful voice...
So I was very excited when TK and Mairi answered my request saying that it would not be easy, but that they were more than willing to take on the challenge.
When you will listen to the resulting track, I think you will agree with me that they have done a great job, and I hope it will inspire you to check out more of their music.
So now, the "On the wind" project is expanding its wings again, and I am proud to present you a version by the japanese duo PREFIX, formed by TK (Tomonori Kimuro) and Mairi (Akemi Wakase)

風に　   去り逝くは　遥かな　  彼の地

Kaze ni  saruyukuwa  harukana  kanochi

遠く　　離れて　　今は　  一人きり

Tooku   hanarete  imawa   hitorikiri

心　　  焼き尽くす　　永遠の　別れ　  身を焦がし

Kokoro  yakitsukusu    towano  wakare  miwokogashi

二度と　届かぬ　　 朝の　 光　   冷たく

Nidoto todokanu  asano　hikari    tsumetaku

今は　過ぎ去りし　　美しき　   日々は

Imawa sugisarishi      utsukushiki       hibiwa

記憶に　抱かれ　ぬくもり　優しく

kiokuni dakare  nukumori  yasashiku

風に　  高く     舞い　  光を　     目指す

Kazeni  takaku mai       hikariwo   mezasu

深く    燃える    火よ　あなたの  元へと

Fukaku  moeru  hiyo    anatano       motoeto

心も　         この身も　  高く　     連れて  行って。。。。

Kokoromo  konomimo   takaku     tsurete      itte


風 (kaze) ＝ Wind

火 (hi) = Fire

Japanese adaptation: Prefix (TK & Mairi)
Prefix myspace page
Prefix website

It is not always obvious to create an adaptation in a style and language that is very different from the original.
Below you can read about the making of the song.

The translation of the lyrics into japanese:
The problem is that japanese uses more syllables than english and it is difficult to match this to the melodies afterwards.
For example “thank you” means “arigatou”. “Thank you” needs only one or two notes to sing, but “arigatou” requires at least four or five.
Japanese also uses many vowels, which makes it even more difficult.
Mairi did the translation of this version in a literally japanese style, and she remained very faithful to the original lyrics.
Mairi lost her parents at a very young age when she was 21. The experience of the death of her parents made that she could understand the feelings in the lyrics very well, and she could write straight from the heart.

The sound of the song:
When I invite people to record a localised version of the song, I am more interested in a personal version of the song in their own style, and less in a “traditional” sounding version of the country they live in.
However, TK told me that he wanted to add some japanese instruments to give the song that asian feel.
It is very difficult to use Japanese traditional instruments, because they use no score. But this music have been played since about AC700 in the Imperial Household called 'GAGAKU' (雅楽）

TK’s description of the instruments:
All these instruments use different scales than the western, and some of them are very difficult to play, so for this song I used the sampled version.

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