some music and .. .. a crazy !! marriage !!!

When Kondo decided to marry, he   started looking for wedding venues.  The first venue he had selected asked Kondo not to publicize the wedding online, fearing others would cancel their own weddings.  Ultimately, Kondo   arranged a formal wedding ceremony in Tokyo that cost 2 million yen. The marriage was attended by 39 people !! 

 

What is your favourite source of entertainment – how often do you listen to music .. .. the past few days at Thiruvallikkeni, Chithirai brahmothsavam gave an opportunity to listen to many Nadaswaram Vidwans rendering Thiyagaraja keerthanas and more .. .. a search on Sangeetha Kalanidhi Award led to finding few women who were crowned with the glory – the list starts with MS Subbulakshmi, ML Vasanthakumari, DK Pattammal and T. Brinda.   Vidushi T. Brinda  was from the   Veenai Dhanammal school of Carnatic Music. She was primarily a vocalist, although she also played the Veena.

In my school days, had heard of Western music and elites used to speak about troupes like ‘Abba’ and ‘Boney M’ !  ..  then in 1980s came the group ‘Osibisa’ – a  Ghanaian-English Afro rock band, founded in London in 1969 by four expatriate West African and three Caribbean musicians. One of their famous songs was ‘kilele!, kielele!!’ .. ..  I think, they performed and rocked loud at Nehru stadium. 

No post on Carnatic or Western music but a marriage related to a Musician!

Vocaloid is a singing voice synthesizer software product. Its signal processing part was developed through a joint research project between Yamaha Corporation and the Music Technology Group in Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona.  The software was ultimately developed into the commercial product "Vocaloid" that was released in 2004.

The  wedding ceremony took place on Nov. , 2018, and was attended by 39 people,  specifically chosen because it spells "Miku" in Japanese, with "mi" meaning three and "ku" nine. The people who attended were mostly strangers and people who found out about the wedding on Twitter; while he invited his family and co-workers, they didn't attend.   The wedding was attended by two Japanese politicians: Minoru Oginu [ja], assembly member of Ōta, and Taro Yamada [ja], member of the House of Councilors.

The marriage talked about was that of Akihiko Kondo, who symbolically married the fictional character Hatsune Mike,  who is a voicaloid.  It is stated that at high school, Kondo had an interest in real women, but  was rejected by them; soon after, he decided he would not marry one. Later, Kondo was bullied at work and he took sick leave due to depression. During his leave, in 2007, Kondo discovered Hatsune Miku; this helped Kondo to return to the workplace. In 2017, he purchased a Gatebox device that allowed people to interact with holograms, including Hatsune Miku. This device further helped Kondo's decision to hold a wedding with the character. The marriage, which was unofficial, elicited mixed reactions from people.

Hatsune Miku was represented by a small stuffed toy  — one he had bought in Sept 2010 — wearing a hand-made white dress, while Kondo wore a pure white tuxedo. After exchange of rings,  Kondo also held leeks, Hatsune Miku's trademark, which served as the bouquet. Japanese law does not allow for marriage with fictional characters; and hence the marriage is not legally recognised.  Kondo went on to say  in interviews that he specifically married his own Hatsune Miku, and that others could also marry Hatsune Miku if they wish.

The reactions were obviously mixed -  some greeted them while others badly criticised.  He reportedly received some death threats too !  Since then, Kondo has given lectures about his relationship, including at the Kyoto University. He has since identified as a fictosexual — people that have romantic attraction to fictional characters. In 2023, Kondo founded the General Incorporated Association of Fictosexuality to help the public's understanding of the subject.  

Hatsune Miku, officially code-named CV01,  is a Vocaloid software voicebank developed by Crypton Future Media and its official anthropomorphic mascot character, a 16-year-old girl with long, turquoise twintails. Miku's personification has been marketed as a virtual idol, and has performed at live virtual concerts onstage as an animated projection (rear-cast projection on a specially coated glass screen).  Miku uses Yamaha Corporation's Vocaloid 2, Vocaloid 3, and Vocaloid 4 singing synthesizing technologies, and Crypton Future Media's Piapro Studio, a standalone singing synthesizer editor.

The name of the character comes from merging the Japanese words for first (初, hatsu), sound (音, ne), and future (ミク, miku),[a] thus meaning "the first sound of the future",  which, along with her code name, refers to her position as the first of Crypton's "Character Vocal Series" (abbreviated "CV Series"), preceding Kagamine Rin/Len (code-named CV02) and Megurine Luka (code-named CV03). The number 01 can be seen on her left shoulder in official artwork.

Strange are the ways of people.

 
With regards – S Sampathkumar
2^nd May 2024.