Tori no Uta

"Tori no Uta"
Song by Lia
from the album Ornithopter
ReleasedSeptember 8, 2000
RecordedMay 3–5, 2000
StudioParamount Studio, Los Angeles
Genre
Length6:08
LabelKey Sounds Label
Composer(s)Shinji Orito
Lyricist(s)Jun Maeda
Audio sample
"Tori no Uta"

"Tori no Uta" (鳥の詩, lit. "Bird's Poem") is a Japanese trance song sung by Lia, written by Jun Maeda, composed by Shinji Orito, and arranged by Kazuya Takase. The song was recorded at Paramount Studio in Los Angeles by the visual novel studio Key through their record label Key Sounds Label for use as the opening theme of Key's 2000 visual novel Air.[1] A short version of the song was first released on I've Sound's July 2000 compilation album Verge. The full version of "Tori no Uta" first appeared on the limited edition remix album Ornithopter (September 2000) originally bundled with the first printing release of the Air game,[2] though "Tori no Uta" was not remixed on the album. The song was later widely distributed on the Air Original Soundtrack (2002), the soundtrack of the visual novel.[3] The song was later featured as the opening theme to the Air anime series in 2005. The Japanese variety radio show Moteken used "Tori no Uta" as the ending theme to their October 15, 2007 broadcast.

Shinji Orito commented on the song in the Air Original Soundtrack booklet where he remarked, "Even though I have made up my mind that the song "Tori no Uta" best captures the themes of Air, arriving at this was extremely difficult. Besides being under a lot of pressure, I'm still quite inexperienced in the field of music; this is the area I want to become stronger in most of all."[1][4]

  1. ^ a b "Air Original Soundtrack booklet transcribed online" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved June 3, 2009.
  2. ^ "Air Dreamcast review". GameFAQs. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2007.
  3. ^ "Key Sounds Label's discography" (in Japanese). Key Sounds Label. Archived from the original on August 4, 2012. Retrieved May 5, 2008.
  4. ^ Untranslated quote: "Tori no Uta" wa, Air no tēma sei o nentō ni, jibun no naka de imēji o katameteiku no ni hijō ni kurō rōshimashita. Puresshā mo sugokattashi (wara) kakyoku wa, madamada nigate bunya no de, mottomo jibun no naka de kyōkashitai bubun desu ne. (鳥の詩は、AIRのテーマ性を念頭に、自分の中でイメージを固めていくのに非常に苦労しました。プレッシャーもすごかったし（笑）歌曲は、まだまだ苦手分野なので、最も自分の中で強化したい部分ですね。)