Make Your Inner Nerd Happy with Joe Hisaishi’s Studio Ghibli Concert
Remember anime? It’s okay if you don’t; you kind of had to be a kid in the 90s to hit that sweet spot where it was both becoming cool-among-nerds (not actually cool, of course) and easily accessible thanks to first-generation internet piracy.
Nowadays, of course, you can watch all of Cowboy Bebop on YouTube for free, and good luck finding me a high schooler who appreciates that bounty.
But the late 90s and early naughts (can we call them the “naughties?”) were a good time for anime, and leading the charge toward mainstream respectability were Hayao Miyazaki’s movies – Princess Mononoke, then Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle on the big screen, and his older ones in high-quality re-release through Disney (after years of legal wrangling and hold-ups, which teenaged me watched with bated breath).
Among his many filmmaking quirks (and he had/has plenty), Mr. Miyazaki has used the same composer for all his films, ever since Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. His professional name (don’t ask me why) is Joe Hisaishi, and here is a video of him conducting a “25 years of Studio Ghibli” concert in Japan:
For those that can’t watch embedded, the link is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVCdLi6FGVg&feature=share
Put it up in the background and enjoy the nostalgia, or watch the whole thing through on stage if you like — the part around 47:00 where they make all the adult soloists come out and sing the Ponyo theme using hand puppets might be my favorite, but the high school marching band is fairly excellent too. Japan, amirite?
Anyway. A little nostalgia for you all today, and if you never watched any of Mr. Miyazaki’s movies, give them a try. I highly recommend Porco Rosso or Spirited Away as good starting places. In the meantime, enjoy the music…
“Spirited Away” was/is a favorite. Thanks for the nostalgia and the music.
Thanks for this! I love anime! And I love Studio Ghibli films. I actually just watched one last night…From On Top of Poppy Hill (or something like that). It was really cute
Excellent! The Ponyo section was adorable. The little girl soloist was just too cute for words!