“Kajiurago” is the made up/coined language that Yuki Kajiura has created and uses frequently in her soundtrack song compositions and in-between jpop songs of her. Because many people keep asking about the language, in this page we are collecting all the quotes from text or video interviews of Yuki Kajiura and her vocalists, where she and they explain about the language and its nature. We will be updating with more quotes as we find them 🙂
From Aquarian Age OST Liner Notes
Yuki Kajiura: I wrote the music for this foreign world by imaging water since the word “aqua” basically means water. I suppose the main motif for this foreign world’s music is based on the song melody, “11. CONFLICT FOR BREAK.” Although I used so many vocals, none of the lyrics have any meaning. I conveniently acknowledge them as the Aquarian’s language(?). I transcribed the lyrics in katakana and in the Romal alphabet for the singer, but since I made slight differences between repeated phrases, I’m sure it must have been quite difficult for the singer. I normally sing the first draft of my songs in an enigmatic foreign language, so making up the Aquarian language was a fun, painless process. However, I am a little afraid that the collection of words might mean “a fool, an idiot, and a bonehead” in Russian…
From AnimeGiga video interview
Interviewer: What is ｢Kajiurago｣?
Kajiura: This so-called “Kajiurago” is actually a constructed language I frequently use, meaningless language fabricated by myself. It’s only that I arbitrarily named it “Kajiurago”. It’s entirely meaningless.
Interviewer: Not even a bit of meaning?
Kajiura: Yeah. Fabricated only for its pronunciation. One thing is that when I wrote insert songs and other songs for anime, I had initially used Italian, Latin, and the like before. Even if it were a non-Japanese song, for scenes whose meaning I cannot match, to use lyrics not matching the work, I don’t like that.
Interviewer: Why use “meaningless lyrics”?
Kajiura: Despite the thought that few will understand anyway if English is used, few will understand anyway if Italian is used, I nevertheless have great psychological reactance. When I no longer wished to continue doing thus, I remembered that I could choose constructed language. If you were to ask me about its benefits, it would not be shackled by meaning, allowing listeners free rein for imagination, and I also get a lot more freedom myself.
Interviewer: I see.
Kajiura: The sounds fitting the melody most can be used. There previously had been no choice at times, but to sing unsuitable pronunciations at clearly unsuitable vocal ranges. Totally not a problem when using constructed language. If singing ‘a’ suits here then sing ‘a’, if singing ‘i’ suits there then singing ‘i’ or ‘mi’ are both fine. There’s total freedom in articulation as the lyrics have no meaning. Therefore there’s considerable freedom in singing.
From “Imagine-nation” video interview
Yuki Kajiura: If you use actual lyrics, songs instantly take on their own meaning. Unlike movies, most TV anime recycles the same piece of background music in different situations. If the song has a very clear meaning, it can create problems when used in a different scene. It bothered me several times until I decided to get rid of that potential problem altogether. (Kajiurago) instantly gives you imagination free rein and lets you create a different meaning that suitably fits the scene. My made up language seems be the perfect fit for that kind of background music.
From YUKI KAJIURA LIVE VOL#2 video interview
Yuriko Kaida: When it comes to Kajiura-san, Kajiurago matters. I’ve been singing a lot of songs in Kajiurago.
Kajiurago lyrics are written on the sheets in Roman, instead of Katakana.I often rewrite the words into Katakana to make them easy to read.
Sometimes I ask her “Is this メ(me) or ノ(no)?” And she replies “That is…bla bla bla…”But eventually I rewrite them into other words so that I can read them easily. And I say “Sorry, I’ve sung wrong words.” Then she says “That’s all right if you can sing more easily” And she rewrites them. So I think I’m one of those who create Kajiurago.
I think Kajiurago doesn’t have meaning. I think a lot of Kajiurago will continue to be made. Let’s sing them together. I’ll continue to work hard, too.
(A little more about “Kajiurago”…)
The choruses are always recorded last. The lyrics are already written then. So I don’t know how she creates Kajiurago.
Sometimes she is sitting, looking very tired, and I think it’s very hard to create Kajiurago. And I go into the booth, worrying about her.Then I sing hard so that the songs she has created will be much better.
Because I’m in the booth and she is in the control room, we can’t talk unless we use talk-back. When I see her saying something in the control room, I think “Is my singing bad?”But she praises me all the time like “That’s very good!” “That’s the best!”, so I can sing lively.
Though I don’t know if she tries to be nice to me, I guess she has never put me down. She’s very good at praising.
I’m one of those who grow when being praised. I think I’m growing up very well.
From “The Works for Soundtrack” 2010 twitter event
Question 1: How did you decided to use male vocalist for the “tear fall in my heart” track of WFS, because it sounds so pretty yet you do it so
rarely.
Question 2: 15歳の志願兵の曲「tears fall in my heart」は 梶浦さんには珍しい男性ボーカル曲だと思いますが、 男性ボーカル(川瀬幹比虎さん)を起用した理由と、 日本語ではなく梶浦語の歌にした理由等、エピソードあれば教えてください。 よろしくお願いします。Yuki Kajiura: I thought that male voice was fitting more, since with female voice it was too sweet at the end. I was searching for someone who has gentle voice and he (Kawase) was suggested to me, so I asked him to do this favour.
The reason why I didnt wrote the song in japanese is because the message I wanted to send with the song didnt wanted it to be too clear, I wanted it to be something between sorrow, funeral, and hope that didnt become real, I wanted the feeling created to depend on how the listener receives it.There’s no “right meaning” or “the feeling I want to send” in my lyrics, I want it to be analogical to the feelings that they create to each listener.If you ever read an official interpretation from me or the vocalists that differs from what you felt, the right interpretetation is that one that you felt.
From Yuki Kajiura’s facebook
The context is that she went to the opera (Rigoletto) when she was still in Paris, so she remembered her childhood. She liked going to the opera, and when she was back, she’d often try to sing (together with her dad and sister) the opera songs. However, they spoke no Italian or French, so the lyrics were just mangled, whatever the opera’s lyrics sounded like to little Japanese ears. And that’s what her current Kajiurago comes from!