J-Pop Duo YANAKIKU Release Sailor Moon Theme Song Cover
Opening theme originally premiered with first episode 26 years ago in Japan
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA – March 7th, 2018 - Music production company Strawberry Hill Music is pleased to announce that J-Pop duo YANAKIKU has released a cover of “Moonlight Densetsu”, the opening theme song to the famous anime Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. Originally written by Japanese composer Tetsuya Komoro, the song's lyrics were provided by Kanako Oda. Dubbed the “SHM Electric Waltz Version”, the cover was produced by singer-songwriter Raj Ramayya. The song is available for both downloading and streaming on digital music services worldwide (iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc).
The singing Japanese duo, comprised of members YANA and KIKU, was brought out to the Strawberry Hill Music studios in Novato, CA, where they recorded the song over the course of an afternoon. Co-arranged by Daria Kondrakina and Frank Gonzales, this version of the song was created in recognition of the 26th anniversary of the original airdate of the popular and beloved anime. It is the latest in a series of cover songs produced by Ramayya celebrating well-known anime series reaching milestone anniversaries.
The series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon follows the adventures of protagonist Usagi Tsukino, a middle school student who is given the power to become the titular Sailor Soldier. Joined by other Sailor Soldiers, they defend Earth together against an assortment of evil villains. The anime also parallels the maturation of Usagi from an emotional middle school girl to a responsible young adult.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon first premiered on March 7th, 1992 in Japan on the television channel TV Asahi. Adapted from the manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi, it has gone on to become an international sensation with fans of all ages and genders. Its runaway success has allowed it to spawn television shows, video games, musicals, and merchandise of all kinds over the years. As one of the landmarks of the “magical girl” genre, Sailor Moon continues to be embraced by new generations as a timeless saga of fantasy, action, and romance.
On August 19th, 2016, Ramayya released a cover version of the Pokémon theme song to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary, and a remixed version by the late James Laurence of the EDM group Friendzone was released on December 16th later on that year and dubbed the LVC “Sun & Moon” Remix in recognition of the latest instalments of the Nintendo handheld game series, Pokémon Sun Version & Pokémon Moon Version. On February 28th, 2017, Ramayya released “Butter-Fly (Dual World Version)”, a cover of the Digimon Adventure opening theme originally recorded by the late J-Pop artist Kouji Wada, and later a cover of the Power Rangers theme song “Go Go Power Rangers” the following month on March 24th. The most recent cover released by Ramayya was “Lithium Flower” from the anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex on March 31st, 2017. All songs are available for download and streaming now on digital music services worldwide.
ABOUT RAJ RAMAYYA: Raj Ramayya is an Indo-Canadian singer, composer and lyricist based in San Francisco, CA. His claim to anime fame would be his musical collaborations with famed Japanese composer Yoko Kanno as a member of The Seatbelts. Ramayya sang the opening credits song “Ask DNA” and wrote the lyrics for “Cosmic Dare (Pretty with a Pistol)” from the fan favourite feature film Cowboy Bebop: the Movie, and both sang and wrote the lyrics for “Strangers” from the anime series Wolf's Rain. His most recent anime work was done alongside Australian composer Kevin Penkin in co-writing and singing “The Underground River” for last year's anime series Made in Abyss, winner of digital streaming service Crunchyroll's Anime Awards for Best Score and Anime of the Year. Not limited to music in anime, he has also worked on songs for video games from the likes of Konami, Sega, and Capcom.
Ramayya has been featured as a guest vocalist/composer with several distinguished artists, ranging from talented composers Yoko Kanno (Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain) and Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk, Hotei), to gifted lyricists Chris Mosdell (Eric Clapton, YMO) and Ron Sexsmith, and everyone in-between. His work has won him multiple awards and critical acclaim from around the world.
Among his other projects are the alternative Indian-influenced folk rock band "The Beautiful Losers", the anime cover band “Raj and the Zen Masters”, the electronic Indian fusion music project “Bhang Lassi”, and session singing for products ranging from Asahi Beer and KFC, to Toyota and Coca-Cola. He is also a guest vocalist with three different Japanese electronic music groups; Captain Funk, Akakage, and Studio Apartment, with SA's song “Strawberry Rainbow” (which Ramayya both sang and wrote lyrics for) hitting #1 on the iTunes Japan charts.
For those wishing to connect with Raj, visit his website www.rajramayya.com, like his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/rajramayyamusic), and follow Raj on Twitter @rajramayya.
ABOUT YANAKIKU: Japanese pop female vocal duo YANAKIKU formed in 2012 and released their first single “Miwaku No LADY” in October 2012. In 2013, they launched their second single “UP↑SIDE↓DOWN” and performed for international audiences at Hyper Japan 2013 (London) and TIFFCOM 2013 (Japan).
In January 2014, YANAKIKU performed at Tokyo Dome's Furusato Matsuri and followed up with a special “New Year Event with Japanese Artists 2014″ live show in Korea. In April 2014, they released their new music video “FUJIYAMA DISCO,” achieving over 20,000 views in the first week, followed by a digital release of English and Japanese versions of the song in 109 countries. In July 2014, they returned to the UK for an encore performance at Hyper Japan 2014 and made their American debut at San Francisco's J-Pop Summit.
YANAKIKU released their first full album YANAKIKU NO ENBAN in March 2015.
On December 18, they released a venue-only edition of their new song “Kira Kira Tokio” at their one-man show at Roppongi Morph-Tokyo which was performed on December 12. The “one-coin” (500 yen) single featuring YANAKIKU's signature playful lyrics and club-ready beats will be available next year to fans worldwide.
YANAKIKU spent 2016 promoting their full-album release YANAKIKU NO ENBAN, along with multiple performances at festivals in Japan, America, and Asia, including a return to San Francisco's J-Pop Summit and the Yangon Runway Girls Collection featuring Sean Kingston in Myanmar. Their second full-album was released last year on November 15th, 2017 in Japan.
With their unique costumes named “Kimo-Cos” (“Kimono Cosplay”) and their live Japanese calligraphy, YANAKIKU's high-energy performances and bright, funny personalities are winning over music fans worldwide.
For those wishing to connect with YANAKIKU, visit their website www.yanakiku.jp, like their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/yanakiku), and follow them on Twitter @YANAKIKU.
ABOUT STRAWBERRY HILL MUSIC: Strawberry Hill Music is a music production company based in San Francisco, CA. They specialize in music recording and production/post-production for film, television, animation, video games, commercials, audiobooks, and web-original series. They also produce and engineer music for artists such as Amanda Abizaid, Marsha Yuan, and Damon Mahoney (Three of Swords).
For more information, please visit SHM's official website (www.strawberryhillmusic.com), and follow them on social media through Facebook (www.facebook.com/strawberryhillm) and Twitter @StrawberryHillM.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, USA – March 7th, 2018 - Music production company Strawberry Hill Music is pleased to announce that J-Pop duo YANAKIKU has released a cover of “Moonlight Densetsu”, the opening theme song to the famous anime Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. Originally written by Japanese composer Tetsuya Komoro, the song's lyrics were provided by Kanako Oda. Dubbed the “SHM Electric Waltz Version”, the cover was produced by singer-songwriter Raj Ramayya. The song is available for both downloading and streaming on digital music services worldwide (iTunes, Google Play, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc).
The singing Japanese duo, comprised of members YANA and KIKU, was brought out to the Strawberry Hill Music studios in Novato, CA, where they recorded the song over the course of an afternoon. Co-arranged by Daria Kondrakina and Frank Gonzales, this version of the song was created in recognition of the 26th anniversary of the original airdate of the popular and beloved anime. It is the latest in a series of cover songs produced by Ramayya celebrating well-known anime series reaching milestone anniversaries.
The series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon follows the adventures of protagonist Usagi Tsukino, a middle school student who is given the power to become the titular Sailor Soldier. Joined by other Sailor Soldiers, they defend Earth together against an assortment of evil villains. The anime also parallels the maturation of Usagi from an emotional middle school girl to a responsible young adult.
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon first premiered on March 7th, 1992 in Japan on the television channel TV Asahi. Adapted from the manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi, it has gone on to become an international sensation with fans of all ages and genders. Its runaway success has allowed it to spawn television shows, video games, musicals, and merchandise of all kinds over the years. As one of the landmarks of the “magical girl” genre, Sailor Moon continues to be embraced by new generations as a timeless saga of fantasy, action, and romance.
On August 19th, 2016, Ramayya released a cover version of the Pokémon theme song to celebrate the franchise's 20th anniversary, and a remixed version by the late James Laurence of the EDM group Friendzone was released on December 16th later on that year and dubbed the LVC “Sun & Moon” Remix in recognition of the latest instalments of the Nintendo handheld game series, Pokémon Sun Version & Pokémon Moon Version. On February 28th, 2017, Ramayya released “Butter-Fly (Dual World Version)”, a cover of the Digimon Adventure opening theme originally recorded by the late J-Pop artist Kouji Wada, and later a cover of the Power Rangers theme song “Go Go Power Rangers” the following month on March 24th. The most recent cover released by Ramayya was “Lithium Flower” from the anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex on March 31st, 2017. All songs are available for download and streaming now on digital music services worldwide.
ABOUT RAJ RAMAYYA: Raj Ramayya is an Indo-Canadian singer, composer and lyricist based in San Francisco, CA. His claim to anime fame would be his musical collaborations with famed Japanese composer Yoko Kanno as a member of The Seatbelts. Ramayya sang the opening credits song “Ask DNA” and wrote the lyrics for “Cosmic Dare (Pretty with a Pistol)” from the fan favourite feature film Cowboy Bebop: the Movie, and both sang and wrote the lyrics for “Strangers” from the anime series Wolf's Rain. His most recent anime work was done alongside Australian composer Kevin Penkin in co-writing and singing “The Underground River” for last year's anime series Made in Abyss, winner of digital streaming service Crunchyroll's Anime Awards for Best Score and Anime of the Year. Not limited to music in anime, he has also worked on songs for video games from the likes of Konami, Sega, and Capcom.
Ramayya has been featured as a guest vocalist/composer with several distinguished artists, ranging from talented composers Yoko Kanno (Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain) and Tatsuya Oe (Captain Funk, Hotei), to gifted lyricists Chris Mosdell (Eric Clapton, YMO) and Ron Sexsmith, and everyone in-between. His work has won him multiple awards and critical acclaim from around the world.
Among his other projects are the alternative Indian-influenced folk rock band "The Beautiful Losers", the anime cover band “Raj and the Zen Masters”, the electronic Indian fusion music project “Bhang Lassi”, and session singing for products ranging from Asahi Beer and KFC, to Toyota and Coca-Cola. He is also a guest vocalist with three different Japanese electronic music groups; Captain Funk, Akakage, and Studio Apartment, with SA's song “Strawberry Rainbow” (which Ramayya both sang and wrote lyrics for) hitting #1 on the iTunes Japan charts.
For those wishing to connect with Raj, visit his website www.rajramayya.com, like his Facebook page (www.facebook.com/rajramayyamusic), and follow Raj on Twitter @rajramayya.
ABOUT YANAKIKU: Japanese pop female vocal duo YANAKIKU formed in 2012 and released their first single “Miwaku No LADY” in October 2012. In 2013, they launched their second single “UP↑SIDE↓DOWN” and performed for international audiences at Hyper Japan 2013 (London) and TIFFCOM 2013 (Japan).
In January 2014, YANAKIKU performed at Tokyo Dome's Furusato Matsuri and followed up with a special “New Year Event with Japanese Artists 2014″ live show in Korea. In April 2014, they released their new music video “FUJIYAMA DISCO,” achieving over 20,000 views in the first week, followed by a digital release of English and Japanese versions of the song in 109 countries. In July 2014, they returned to the UK for an encore performance at Hyper Japan 2014 and made their American debut at San Francisco's J-Pop Summit.
YANAKIKU released their first full album YANAKIKU NO ENBAN in March 2015.
On December 18, they released a venue-only edition of their new song “Kira Kira Tokio” at their one-man show at Roppongi Morph-Tokyo which was performed on December 12. The “one-coin” (500 yen) single featuring YANAKIKU's signature playful lyrics and club-ready beats will be available next year to fans worldwide.
YANAKIKU spent 2016 promoting their full-album release YANAKIKU NO ENBAN, along with multiple performances at festivals in Japan, America, and Asia, including a return to San Francisco's J-Pop Summit and the Yangon Runway Girls Collection featuring Sean Kingston in Myanmar. Their second full-album was released last year on November 15th, 2017 in Japan.
With their unique costumes named “Kimo-Cos” (“Kimono Cosplay”) and their live Japanese calligraphy, YANAKIKU's high-energy performances and bright, funny personalities are winning over music fans worldwide.
For those wishing to connect with YANAKIKU, visit their website www.yanakiku.jp, like their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/yanakiku), and follow them on Twitter @YANAKIKU.
ABOUT STRAWBERRY HILL MUSIC: Strawberry Hill Music is a music production company based in San Francisco, CA. They specialize in music recording and production/post-production for film, television, animation, video games, commercials, audiobooks, and web-original series. They also produce and engineer music for artists such as Amanda Abizaid, Marsha Yuan, and Damon Mahoney (Three of Swords).
For more information, please visit SHM's official website (www.strawberryhillmusic.com), and follow them on social media through Facebook (www.facebook.com/strawberryhillm) and Twitter @StrawberryHillM.
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