1. I actually bought a single track (from iTunes–as it was not available somewhere more convenient)
2. I am actually posting a YouTube video.

Two firsts.

The following is called “I Do” and is written, arranged, and performed by Yoko Kanno, a composer and musician with which animé fans will be quite familiar.  The vocal is performed by Ilaria Graziano, and is in Italian, a language which shares some mechanics with Japanese in that both languages are unaccented–very unlike English in this regard.  This makes both languages very suitable for libretto.

The Italian here is beautifully pronounced–crystal clear, bell-like–and is very easy to understand due to the  pure vowels and consonants of the language; I have only a passing acquaintance with it (although my father spoke it fluently.)

This piece was used in its entirety during the closing credits of a special episode of “Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.”  There are perhaps better links to the audio on YouTube, however this one offers up the Original Italian and an English Translation.  I found a few more links there, one of which is actually a section of the show in which the song was used.  The audio in these is somewhat better than in the embedded video below.   Enjoy!

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