<
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/26/hatsune-miku-john-cain-arena-melbourne-show-feature>
"Countless flowing green wigs risked spontaneous combustion on a 36-degree
Melbourne evening as thousands of J-pop fans queued outside John Cain Arena on
Friday night. But the heat was irrelevant to the night’s headline pop
attraction, Hatsune Miku. She can’t sweat because she’s a digital animation – a
16-year-old “Vocaloid” virtual pop-star on her first Australian tour.
Miku, as she’s known to fans, is a 157cm-tall avatar of a teenage girl with
green pigtails. She represents a digital bank of vocal samples created by the
ominous-sounding Crypton Future Media using Yamaha’s Vocaloid voice synthesiser
technology. Users input lyrics and melodies which are “sung” by the bank’s
sampled voice (Hatsune Miku is voiced by the actor Saki Fujita); some Vocaloid
producers “tune” the software to be especially convincing, while others embrace
its artificiality.
Inside the arena, Miku emerged on an LED screen, sending the crowd into a
paradoxically controlled frenzy. Most attendees remained seated, directing
their energy into synchronising their fist pumping of battery-powered coloured
glow sticks they had bought. Miku herself is disconcertingly lifesize, dancing
in time to a live band and dwarfed by a colossal, seizure-inducing lighting
rig. Speaking in Japanese-accented English, she addressed the crowd directly,
leaving gaps for the audience to respond as if she is a real, spontaneous
performer.
“Thank you, everybody, for making this such a special night.” Screams. “I hope
you had a good time.” More screams. “See you soon!” You get the idea."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
