Dr. Foo CY
Samuel
Wee You
Coburn
Ricky Fajar Adiputra
Aidah Isnin
Michael Garry
… featured really good composers. Among these greats are the beatles, chuck berry, jimi hendrix among others. Their compositions have inspired various musical revolutions, and are regarded as legends in many circles. I, personally, adore old, vintage and quality… things. I like old cars, I like vintage guitars, and I love pretty much any piece of history that embodies a ’spirit’ in it that many things today don’t quite capture. I am always surprised, as there are many people who can simply reach back into the past, and somehow make these things better. An example is as follows, a take on George Harrison’s (of the beatles, FYI), While My Guitar Gentley Weeps, by Tommy Emmanuel and Jake Shimabukuro. I hope you enjoy.
P.S. I always find myself wondering, how can such music as these, instrumental pieces be placed into games? Perhaps tranquil little towns in a fantasy game set in ancient china, beside a lake? o.O
Reading your post Samuel made me think of a few games that have made great use of ethnic-inspired or styled music. E.g. Ultima IX Ascenion I think inspired a small group of musicians to re-record the (very) charming soundtrack using authentic instruments, including flutes, harps, violins. I recall they made available their MP3 recordings, and it’s marvellous music to listen to if you’re traipsing through the country side.
Non-quaint but still probably ethnic is for the game Tropico, which had you as the ruler of a banana republic (Cuba?!). The background music featured bands of Latin / Carribean sung songs. Heck, I think the CD of the game music may had been as successful if not more than the game itself.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/tropicomusic
Lol “ethnic-inspired” reminds me of GTA IV’s Eastern European radio stations.
Anyway for Shimabukuro’s Ukelele or however you spell it, it seems fitting in those Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy type of games during the emo moments where the main character recaps about something that happened 10 years ago as the Ukelele plays “While my Guitar Gently Weeps”
Oh yeah; that Eastern European channel was a ball of fun in GTA IV. In fact, that was the channel I always switched to when in-game.