PixlBit

So I just found out that Origa (Ol'ga Yakovleva) passed away today at the age of 44 due to lung cancer.  She sang the theme to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, among performing other anime and game music and voicework.  What's weird, and the reason I'm writing this, is that before today, I didn't even really know who she was.  

This morning I got on an anime/game soundtrack kick.  I rarely listen to music except for when I'm either in my car, working out, or drawing.  This morning I was doing none of those things (which is not unusual for the latter two :p), but felt like listening to music anyway, and I chose my game/anime soundtrack playlist instead of my usual rock/alternative music.  As I was scrolling through my songs I realized that none of my GitS soundtracks were on my iTunes playlist (the horror!). You see, I bought them on CD years ago but apparently never ripped them to my computer.  I immediately set out to rectify this oversight.  As the songs were copying I noticed that the ones that had vocals listed the singers' names in English (whereas the rest was in Japanese), and I saw that a woman named Origa had sung several of the songs, including the main theme.  I had always liked her voice and knew she was Russian from her accent but I really didn't think much else about it at the time.

So imagine my surprise when my wife asked me later in the evening if the reason I had been listening to GitS was because I read the news that one of the vocalists had died.  I told her i hadn't heard and we both shared one of those weird Twilight Zone moments.  The fact that she was only a few years older than my wife and me and that she presumably died suddenly (apparently she recently made a con appearance) of cancer like my dad also hit home.

So Origa, wherever you are, know that your talents will be missed, even by those who discover them posthumously through your work, which will continue to live on.