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Kenji Kawai

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Kenji Kawai (born in 1957 in Tokyo) first studied nuclear engineering and received almost no formal musical training; he began in the fusion band Muse. His regular collaboration with the director Mamoru Oshii began with The Red Spectacles (1987), followed by the Patlabor films. For Ghost in the Shell (1995) he wrote Making of Cyborg: a song for women's choir in old Japanese, with harmonies that recall Bulgarian folk singing, over heavy drums and echoing synthesizers. That sound became a model for later cyberpunk films and anime. Kawai works in many genres: the horror film Ringu (1998) and Hong Kong action films such as Ip Man (2008) are also on his list.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to the abrasive harmonies in the choir, the ritual drums and the spacious reverb of the synthesizers.

Discography

Studio albums

Other work

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Mentioned in other articles

Categories: ArtistsAnime