Legendary Ghost In The Shell singer passes
Sad news this week with the news that ORIGA, whose distinctive vocals were such a vital part of the soundtrack to Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex, passed away last weekend.
Origa collaborated with the legendary composer Yoko Kanno and contributed the haunting ‘Inner Universe’ for Ghost In The Shell : Stand Alone Complex. She also sang ‘Rise’ for the sequel series Stand Alone Complex 2nd GIG (penned bby fellow Kanno collaborator Tim Jensen).
J-Pop Go’s Paul Browne, in conjunction with Jonathan Clements, penned an obituary to the Russian-born singer which you can read over on the Manga UK Blog.
The singer had just completed work on her latest album in Tokyo and Nobuhiko Takahashi, of Origa’s label Road & Sky, made this statement on her website:
It all happened in a flash following 8 days of hospitalization in the Kanagawa Prefecture.
ORIGA arrived to Sapporo as an exchange student in 1991 and began her music activities in Japan as a singer-songwriter. She lived in Tokyo from 1993 to 2011. During this period, in addition to releasing many albums, she was a vocalist for Anime cartoons, games, CM, TV programs and more.
Following her immigration to Vancouver, Canada, while continuing to perform in Japan, her career took new dimensions, including appearing in Anime festivals in North America and Europe.
ORIGA’s life unfortunately ended while she was back in Japan after one year for her studio work in Tokyo. She was able to celebrate the last moments of her life in her second hometown and this seems like no coincidence and was perhaps an end on a positive note for her. Despite the harsh turn of events, she was able to finish her album and In order to remain faithful to her intention; we aim to release the album that she planned on releasing this year.
She leaves us a lot of beautiful music and a beautiful singing voice that can be enjoyed forever, even after she is gone.
Dear kind listener, we would like to thank you for your kindness, support, encouragement and kind regards.
Thank you all!
January 19, 2015
Road & Sky Organization Nobuhiko Takahashi