1) Hiromi Uehara (上原ひろみ, born 26 March 1979) is a Japanese jazz composer and pianist. She is known for her virtuosic technique, energetic live performances and blend of jazz with other musical genres such as progressive rock, classical and fusion in her compositions. She performs as a trio alongside bassist Tony Grey and drummer Martin Valihora. On October 19, 2006, the trio added guitarist David Fiuczynski (from the Screaming Headless Torsos), to form Hiromi's Sonicbloom.
Hiromi first mesmerized the jazz community with her 2003 Telarc debut, Another Mind. The buzz started by her first album spread all the way back to her native Japan, where Another Mind shipped gold (100,000 units) and received the Recording Industry Association of Japan's (RIAJ) Jazz Album of the Year Award. Her second release, Brain, won the Horizon Award at the 2004 Surround Music Awards, Swing Journal's New Star Award, Jazz Life's Gold Album, HMV Japan's Best Japanese Jazz Album, and the Japan Music Pen Club's Japanese Artist Award (the JMPC is a classical/jazz journalists club). Brain was also named Album of the Year in Swing Journal's 2005 Readers Poll. In 2006, Hiromi won Best Jazz Act at the Boston Music Awards and the Guinness Jazz Festival's Rising Star Award. She also claimed Jazzman of the Year, Pianist of the Year and Album of the Year in Swing Journal Japan's Readers Poll for her 2006 release, Spiral.
Hiromi continues her winning streak as Hiromi's Sonicbloom with the 2007 release of Time Control and her 2008 release of Beyond Standard.
Born in Shizuoka, Japan, in 1979, Hiromi took her first piano lessons at age six. She learned from her earliest teacher to tap into the intuitive as well as the technical aspects of music.
"Her energy was always so high, and she was so emotional," Hiromi says of her first piano teacher. "When she wanted me to play with a certain kind of dynamics, she wouldn't say it with technical terms. If the piece was something passionate, she would say, 'Play red.' Or if it was something mellow, she would say, 'Play blue.' I could really play from my heart that way, and not just from my ears."
Hiromi took that intuitive approach a step further when she enrolled in the Yamaha School of Music less then a year after her first piano lessons. By age 12, she was performing in public, sometimes with very high-profile orchestras. "When I was 14, I went to Czechoslovakia and played with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra," she says. "That was a great experience, to play with such a professional orchestra."
Further into her teens, her tastes expanded to include jazz as well as classical music. A chance meeting with Chick Corea when she was 17 led to a performance with the well-known jazz pianist the very next day.
"It was in Tokyo," Hiromi recalls. "He was doing something at Yamaha, and I was visiting Tokyo at the time to take some lessons. I talked to some teachers and said that I really wanted to see him. I sat down with him, and he said 'Play something.' So I played something, and then he said, 'Can you improvise?' I told him I could, and we did some two-piano improvisations. Then he asked me if I was free the next day. I told him I was, and he said, 'Well, I have a concert tomorrow. Why don't you come?' So I went there, and he called my name at the end of the concert, and we did some improvisations together."
After a couple years of writing advertising jingles for Nissan and a few other high-profile Japanese companies, Hiromi came to the United States in 1999 to study at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. For as open as her musical sensibilities had already been when she came to the U.S., the Berklee experience pushed her envelope even further.
"It expanded so much the way I see music," she says. "Some people dig jazz, some people dig classical music, some people dig rock. Everyone is so concerned about who they like. They always say, 'This guy is the best,' 'No, this guy is the best.' But I think everyone is great. I really don't have barriers to any type of music. I could listen to everything from metal to classical music to anything else."
Among her mentors at Berklee was veteran jazz bassist Richard Evans, who teaches arranging and orchestration. Evans co-produced Another Mind, her Telarc debut, with longtime friend and collaborator Ahmad Jamal, who has also taken a personal interest in Hiromi's artistic development. "She is nothing short of amazing," says Jamal. "Her music, together with her overwhelming charm and spirit, causes her to soar to unimaginable musical heights."
At 26, Hiromi stands at the threshold of limitless possibility, constantly drawing inspiration from virtually everyone and everything around her. Her list of influences, like her music itself, is boundless. "I love Bach, I love Oscar Peterson, I love Franz Liszt, I love Ahmad Jamal," she says. "I also love people like Sly and the Family Stone, Dream Theatre and King Crimson. Also, I'm so much inspired by sports players like Carl Lewis and Michael Jordan. Basically, I'm inspired by anyone who has big, big energy. They really come straight to my heart."
But she won't, as a matter of principle, put labels on her music. She'll continue to follow whatever moves her, and leave the definitions to others.
"I don't want to put a name on my music," she says. "Other people can put a name on what I do. It's just the union of what I've been listening to and what I've been learning. It has some elements of classical music, it has some rock, it has some jazz, but I don't want to give it a name."
Hiromi's official website is located at http://www.hiromimusic.com.
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2) For the Japanese R&B singer Hiromi Miyake see 宏実 https://www.generasia.com/wiki/Hiromi
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3) For the Japanese pop singer Hiromi Yanagihara see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiromi_Yanagihara
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4) For the Japanese idol singer Hiromi Kurosawa see 黒沢ひろみ http://jpop.wikia.com/wiki/Kurosawa_Hiromi
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5) For the '70s Japanese pop singer Hiromi Iwasaki see 岩崎宏美 https://www.discogs.com/artist/1826046-Hiromi-Iwasaki
If...
Hiromi Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
あなたの声聞くたびに
高まる胸の鼓動を感じてる
Baby baby...
あなたを夢見る夜に
温かいその腕は 誰を抱いてるの?
会って話した後だって
I feel like I'm brokenhearted
その優しいSmilin'
私だけにするんじゃないね
やり場のない想い抱いてる
It's just too late
coz I have fallen
in love with you
いっそ出会わなければ よかったの?
でもそれじゃ I am nothing
恋しちゃいけないって分かってるの
あなたには守るべき人がいて
一生泣いても 私は構わないの
この想いが 叶わないのなら
Ooh そんな何気ない眼差しに
(deep in your eyes I see)
始まる夢と理想を 信じてる
Baby baby...
あなたのお望みどおりに
キレイでいるから、
つりあうLady でいたいの
誰とデートしてみたって
I know I cannot love nobody
but only you
寂しい夜 cryin 悪くないね、
こんな経験
嘘のようなこの本音
Believin you're the one and only
(it is you)
全てなくしても
私だけはそばにいるから
恋しちゃいけないって分かってるの
あなたには守るべき人がいて
一生泣いても 私は構わないの
この想いが 叶わないのなら
あなたを忘れて
他の誰かを愛して
暮らす日々もいいんじゃない
何度も、そう何度も
試してみたのに
一度だって、上手くいかなくて
忘れてしまう方が
辛いから...
恋しちゃいけないって分かってるの
あなたには守るべき人がいて
一生泣いても 私は構わないの
この想いが 叶わないのなら
The lyrics to Hiromi's song "If..." tell of the internal struggle of a woman who has fallen in love with someone who is unattainable. The song starts with the singer describing how just hearing the person's voice can cause her heart to race. She then questions who this person's warm arms are holding when she's dreaming of him at night. Even after talking to him, she feels broken-hearted and contemplates the idea that it may have been better if they had never met. However, she acknowledges that without meeting him, she would be nothing. She also knows that she shouldn't be in love with him because he has someone else to protect, and she's okay with crying for the rest of her life as long as he's happy. The chorus repeats the phrase "恋しちゃいけないって分かってるの" which means "I know I shouldn't be in love."
In the second verse, the singer explains that even if she goes on dates with other people, she knows she can only love this one person. She admits to crying on lonely nights, but that it's okay because it's just an experience. She shares how it's her true feelings that she hides, even though she believes this person is the one and only for her. In the bridge of the song, the singer describes the dream and ideals she has for herself and the person she loves. She is willing to forget about him and love someone else, but she knows it won't be easy. The song ends with the chorus again, repeating that she knows she shouldn't be in love but can't help herself.
Line by Line Meaning
Baby baby...
The singer is addressing her love interest lovingly.
あなたの声聞くたびに 高まる胸の鼓動を感じてる
The singer feels her heart pounding every time she hears her love interest's voice.
Baby baby...
The singer is addressing her love interest lovingly.
あなたを夢見る夜に 温かいその腕は 誰を抱いてるの?
The artist wonders who her love interest is holding in his warm arms when she dreams of him.
会って話した後だって I feel like I'm brokenhearted (I'm missin you)
Even after meeting and talking to her love interest, the artist still misses him and feels heartbroken.
その優しいSmilin' 私だけにするんじゃないね やり場のない想い抱いてる
The singer believes that her love interest's gentle smile is not exclusive to her, and she has these unrequited feelings with no outlet.
It's just too late coz I have fallen in love with you いっそ出会わなければ よかったの?
The singer acknowledges that it's too late to turn back because she has already fallen in love, despite wondering if it would have been better if they had never met.
でもそれじゃ I am nothing
The artist feels like she would be nothing without her love interest.
恋しちゃいけないって分かってるの あなたには守るべき人がいて 一生泣いても 私は構わないの この想いが 叶わないのなら
The artist knows that she shouldn't love her love interest because he has someone he should protect, but she doesn't mind crying for the rest of her life if her feelings won't be reciprocated.
Ooh そんな何気ない眼差しに (deep in your eyes I see) 始まる夢と理想を 信じてる
The artist sees her love interest's casual gaze and believes that their dreams and ideals can start from there.
Baby baby...
The singer is addressing her love interest lovingly.
あなたのお望みどおりに キレイでいるから、 つりあうLady でいたいの
The artist wants to be a fitting lady for her love interest's desires and keep herself clean.
誰とデートしてみたって I know I cannot love nobody but only you 寂しい夜 cryin 悪くないね、 こんな経験
The singer cannot love anyone other than her love interest, and she feels it's okay to cry on lonely nights since it's all part of the experience.
嘘のようなこの本音 Believin you're the one and only (it is you) 全てなくしても 私だけはそばにいるから
The singer believes that her love interest is the only one for her, and even if everything is gone, she will still be by his side.
恋しちゃいけないって分かってるの あなたには守るべき人がいて 一生泣いても 私は構わないの この想いが 叶わないのなら
The singer knows that she shouldn't love her love interest because he has someone he should protect, but she doesn't mind crying for the rest of her life if her feelings won't be reciprocated.
あなたを忘れて 他の誰かを愛して 暮らす日々もいいんじゃない
Forgetting her love interest and loving someone else with whom to spend her days might be okay, too.
何度も、そう何度も 試してみたのに 一度だって、上手くいかなくて 忘れてしまう方が 辛いから...
The artist has tried many times, but it never works out, so forgetting is harder because of repeated failure.
恋しちゃいけないって分かってるの あなたには守るべき人がいて 一生泣いても 私は構わないの この想いが 叶わないのなら
The singer knows that she shouldn't love her love interest because he has someone he should protect, but she doesn't mind crying for the rest of her life if her feelings won't be reciprocated.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: 宏実
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind