Bunraku puppets dance to VOCALOID singing!
A new Opera style in which new technologies and traditional Japanese arts meet has its world premiere on Hyper Japan 2014!
VOCALOID™ Opera AOI with Bunraku Puppets
It's a 30 minute-length opera film, in which you will see no human being acting. It's VOCALOID which provides all the songs for the play. VOCALOID is a technology of singing voice synthesis and the name of application software based on that technology. And all the actresses in the play are Bunraku puppets. Bunraku is one of Japan's traditional performing arts with 250 years of history. The trinity of lifelike puppet play, songs from VOCALOID and techno music using Japanese traditional musical instruments illustrates the complexity of human deep psyche.
VOCALOID can sing beyond human vocal range and therefore its vocal sometimes sounds otherworldly while Bunraku puppets can act beyond limits of human actions. Opera AOI is a collaboration of VOCALOID and Bunraku puppets which nobody has ever seen even in Japan.
Five puppeteers whom Kosuke Yoshida led breathe life into the Bunraku puppet.
What is VOCALOID™?
VOCALOID is a technology for singing voice synthesis developed by Yamaha, and the name of application software based on it.
The software allows users to input melody and lyrics in order to synthesize singing. In other words, with this technology, singing can be produced without a singer. Singing voice synthesis is produced by using fragments of voices recorded from actual singers, called the Singer Library.
In "Opera AOI", three VOCALOID libraries; Yamaha's"VY1V3", AHS's "Nekomura Iroha", and "Yuzuki Yukari" have been used to create an enchanting mood.
This illustration is Yuzuki Yukari of AHS. Yuzuki Yukari plays a calm voice of "psychiatrist" of opera AOI.
What is Bunraku puppet?
Bunraku is one of Japan's representative traditional performing arts, designated a World Intangible Heritage by UNESCO in 2003. It is a trinity of narrative recitation (Tayu), shamisen (shamisen; three-stringed Japanese musical instrument) music and Bunraku puppet in performance.
The origins of present-day Bunraku date back to the seventeenth century, when older puppet shows (ayatsuri ningyo) were integrated with the medieval narratives (joururi) and called ningyo joururi, "puppet narrative". It affected the development of Kabuki, another Japan's representative traditional performing.
Opera AOI uses 3 Bunraku puppets and 5 puppet players for them. Those puppets are dressed in modern haute couture dresses.
For more details of Bunraku Ningyo Joururi, please refer to the following website.
http://www.bunraku.or.jp/about/pdf/english.pdf
This puppet head is "Musume". Musume plays Aoi's manager who is a storyteller of Opera AOI.
About Hyper Japan 2014
Hyper Japan 2014(July 25-27) is the UK's biggest Japanese culture festival and Europe's biggest celebration of Japanese food. Hyper Japan shows visitors the "Real Japan" and is held by the London-based Japanese media company Cross Media Ltd. It receives assistance from Japanese public institutions including the Embassy of Japan in the UK, JETRO, JNTO, the Japan Foundation, CLAIR, and others.
The recognition of VOCALOIDs as characters has continued to grow within the United Kingdom and Europe as a whole. However, only a small number have heard their "raw voices." For this reason, Chihiro Ishiguro, the character voice of VOCALOID 3 Yuzuki Yukari, is scheduled to hold daily talk shows at Hyper Japan in order to teach fans more about VOCALOID.
*Vocaloid event details, dates, times, and other information will be announced through the official website on a later date.
Location: EARLS COURT ONE (The largest event venue in West London)