Joe Hisaishi, The Genius Behind The Beautiful Music Of Ghibli Movies

Joe Hisaishi (Facebook)

JAKARTA - After deciding to release 21 of its films into the digital realm, Studio Ghibli has also released all soundtracks of its films in the same format. The appeal of Ghibli films, which are known for their dreamy nuances, is not only from the visual side but also the audio quality. And there is one name that is the reason why Ghibli's songs have such a beautiful unity, Joe Hisaishi.

Hisaishi is a person who has a big influence as an accompaniment to the story of the Studio Ghibli films. His debut through The Castle of Cagliostro was such a big influence that the production house requested song composition prior to production. Its function is to help the writing atmosphere and the direction of the story.

Joe Hisaishi's compositions always put oneself in a calm atmosphere and imagine oneself in a magical place. The scoring process for a film is certainly long. For Ghibli films, Hisaishi does special treatment by looking at the storyboard first and measuring several scenes that could be filled with scoring.

Joe Hisaishi has long worked with director Hayao Miyazaki for the Ghibli films. Their collaboration, known as John Williams of Japan, resembles the directorial duo of Steven Spielberg and John Williams for the Jurassic Park films, Jaws, and the Indiana Jones series. The cooperation is still well established to date, although Hisaishi has never confirmed his participation in Ghibli's film.

The composer who was born on December 6, did not only do film scoring, he also became a soloist. His first album, MKWAJU, was released in 1981. His solo career has continued until now, where on February 21, he released the album Dream Songs: The Essential Joe Hisaishi which contains 28 compositions he made. Some of these include songs for Spirited Away, My Neighbor Totoro, Princess Mononoke, and many more. Hisaishi was heavily assisted by the London Symphony Orchestra for his latest album.

Hisaishi has won several awards including his scoring for Ghibli's Ponyo film which won the Japanese Academy Awards and beating his work for Departures, the film which won Best Picture at the 2008 Oscars.

The news about the Ghibli soundtrack, which can be accessed through this digital platform, was not completely submitted. Reporting from the Lad Bible, copyright Grave of the Fireflies, Ghibli's 1988 film is not available. However, 23 Ghibli movie soundtracks can be heard.