Origa


Olga Vitalevna Yakovleva, better known as Origa, was a singer of Russian origin who rose to prominence for her musical collaborations in Japan.

History

Origa was born in the small urban village of Kochenyovo, 50 kilometres west of Novosibirsk.
After graduating from music school in 1990, she took an opportunity to visit Japan in 1991 and finally contracted with the ROAD&SKY Organization in 1993. She later participated in several projects with various artists in addition to the Radio Japan Series and being part of the chorus for the Kobe earthquake disaster charity single. She released eight solo albums, three mini-albums, two compilation albums and 3 singles. She gained popularity outside Japan with the release of ' and the subsequent original soundtracks, ' and '.
These were written by long-time friend and composer Yoko Kanno, and both the first season's theme song, Inner Universe and the theme song, Rise used Origa's vocals. Origa first performed with Kanno for ∀ Gundam, singing "Moon" in concerts. In 2005, Origa performed songs for the anime series Fantastic Children, most notably the ending theme "Mizu no Madoromi".
In 2006, Origa was involved in the lyrics and vocal performance for the opening song "Player" and the ending theme "date of rebirth" from the movie '. In 2007, Origa performed with Yoko Kanno for the Ragnarok 2 Concert. There, she performed all three Ghost in the Shell opening themes; "Player" from Solid State Society, "Inner Universe" from the first season, and "Rise" from 2nd GIG, and substituted for Ilaria Graziano on "Yoru_Vo", Pierre Bensusan on "ELM", and Gabriela Robin on "Torukia". She also performed alongside fellow vocalists Maaya Sakamoto and Mai Yamane and joined in singing selected songs originally performed only by Maaya.
On December 19, 2008, she performed at Sugizo's "Rise to Cosmic Dance" concert held at Tokyo's Shibuya-AX hall. She later appeared on his 2011 single "The Edge".
She lent her voice to the soundtrack for the video game Final Fantasy XIII-2. The game was released in Japan on December 15, 2011. The soundtrack was composed by Masashi Hamauzu, Naoshi Mizuta and Mitsuto Suzuki.
Beginning in 2013, she worked alongside musician Seiya and the duo have performed together worldwide. In 2014, Origa attended Anirevo where she performed in concert. She performed songs from the Ghost in the Shell series and a medley of many other theme songs, including the debut of what would later become her last song, "Bells". She also participated in a panel with Production I.G CEO Mitsuhisa Ishikawa.

Death

Origa died of lung cancer on Saturday January 17, 2015 according to a tweet by anime voice actress Jenya while another source adds she had fought with lung cancer for 2 years already.

Personal life

In 1998, she married an Iranian man named Zhian Saedi, whom she met at a coffee shop where she was having a conversation with her boss. She gave birth to their first son Ilya Saedi.

Discography

Solo career

Demos:
Studio albums:
Singles:
Mini albums:
Compilation albums: