Interest
Pokemon Singer Sachiko Kobayashi Gets Vocaloid Make-Over
posted on by Lynzee Loveridge
Enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi is lending her chops to Yamaha's newest Vocaloid, aptly named Sachiko.
Sachiko was designed by artist foo*. The library includes over 400 types of vocal material.
Kobayashi held an interview with Yamaha to talk about her feelings about becoming a Vocaloid. She said that while she's used to covering other singers' songs, she was happy to be covered by her own Vocaloid. She also struggled with keeping up with Vocaloid songs, many of which are at a tempo too fast for a breathing human to keep up with. She thinks it's fun to hear her Vocaloid cover songs she's never covered (or even heard before), although also very weird. She's interested to hear the differences between her own voice and the Vocaloid's, although she's nervous that the Vocaloid might be an improvement.
Kobayashi celebrated the 50th anniversary of her musical debut last year and holds a record for the most consecutive appearances on the Kōhaku Uta Gassen New Year's Eve program. Kōhaku Uta Gassenhas aired every New Year's Eve on NHK since 1951 with Kobayashi appearing 33 times on the program. She's known for her over-the-top costumes matched by her singing ability.
The singer has held cameo roles in Pokémon, Pokémon: The First Movie, Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi o Yobu Jungle, and Yatterman and also sang the "Pokémon Ondo" theme song used in the first anime series.
Pokémon end 4 jap : Pokémon Ondo by Mokona-fan-Rayearth
She made her psuedo-VOCALOID debut on a mini-album released at Comic Market with the song "Sachi Sachi ni Shite Ageru."
A download and boxed version of the VOCALOID4 Library Sachiko software will launch on Monday for 12,000 yen (US$97) followed by a retail version in August.
[Via Kai-You]
