Anime Juke Box - Kaneda - Akira

Like just about everything else with the film Akira, the soundtrack by Geinoh Yamashirogumi is unique. Using primarily percussion, human voices and a dash of 80s electronics the score sound like nothing else you'd hear in anime (or in any other film I've run across). Melded into this are traditional Japanese musical stylings, and chants that I believe are Buddhist and Shinto in nature. Director Katsuhiro Otomo utilized the music very well in the film, taking Yamashirogumi's long tracks and using pieces of them throughout the film. Here is the opening track (and used in other portions of the film) called "Kaneda" after the lead character. Listen close and you'll hear the vocals actually chanting his name, and the name of the other protagonist, Tetsuo.

This version is a slight remix, but still very close to the original.