After years of touring the world & secretly concocting the new up and coming soundtracks for Square Enix & Mistwalker, the impossible is happening: Nobuo Uematsu, original coposer of multiple Final Fantasy series games, is returning to the
Now if none of that made sense to you, you’re probably not a gamer. Square Enix is one of the worlds top game designers & producers, having a full CG movie studio in house, connections to highly respected classical artists of all varieties & the best most intensive RPGs (role playing games) available, the theme of which is always the potential end of the world; you play the hero. It is by utilizing beyond professional movie standards within video games that made Square Enix multi-billion dollar game corporation. Nobuo Uematsu composed the original Final Fantasy music, as well as the epic “Prelude,” possibly the most beautiful song on harp ever created. Despite the majority of the music being digital, the key to success, says Nobuo, was always “composing songs on the piano, first” attributing much of his success to the fact that all of the songs can be played on any instrument, allowing Uematsu to even go so far as to form his own heavy metal band, The Black Mages, while still playing the same music.
For those of you who never played the Final Fantasy games, I highly recommend you get with the times. Many of you might have children who play them & if you don’t understand the themes the kids will pass you right by. Each game deals with serious social issues and connects them back to their lore; in other words, all the scenarios are factual based on mythology. The depth of emotion expressed by the music, therefore, is epic in scale. Themes must correlate to bliss & tragedy, sorrow & adventure. There are bombings of entire cities, genocide, genetic splicing, torture, suffering, & in the end all of it always gets trumped by some crazy megalomaniac attempting to conquer –or destroy- the earth. This is why Uematsu’s music is so important, it’s a theme for victory in desperate circumstances, where the hero should simply just give in, but never does (unless you quit the game). These classic games mean much more to people then mere movies, and are more on the level of interactive epic tales, or great books. Keep in mind, a single Final Fantasy game could take 50-150 hours of game play and original story, all of this must have music. This is why Nobuo is more then a simple music director for video games, writing a Final Fantasy soundtrack for say FFXII (the 120+ hour newest installment) is like scoring 75 movies, all at once, all connected, each connecting zone in tune with the next.
Now that we’ve went through a brief history, lets talk about the present. Nobuo Uematsu currently just finished his third metal album with The Black Mages, Darkness & Starlight (album & concert video available). The band is difficult to see, as obviously their keyboard player is quite busy. However, they are known from time to time to do special concerts, as for the original Final Fantasy XI (FFXI) fan festival (where the true Square Enix fans are) and other rare venues, so if you get the chance to hear them, don’t hesitate! Many of these shows are not booked, but special surprises featured at the end of festival events. Not to mention, all of Uematsu’s apprentices (who’ve helped to make many other game soundtracks, and are consummate professionals in their own right) often show up, some being a part of the new rock band from the game studio, The Star Onions. Even when not present, the influence of Nobuo’s style in undeniable in the sound. This group of game designers and programmers has practically made their own genre of music, like symphonic rock or neo-prog, but hours of progression instead of minutes, a sort of Gamer genre that is similar to soundtrack music before movies had sound, & instead came with scores to be played live. This effect is found throughout each game, as new musical styles time to storyline and plot twist, as reoccurring themes build the progression of their stories to epic proportion.
At present, Nobuo Uematsu (according to the tour) has put the finishing touches on scores, for his other composers to finish up, such as Final Fantasy XIII, Blue Dragon 2, & the opening theme for the remake of the classic manga, Guin Saga. On top of this, most of us true fans of the older games are expecting a total orchestral remake of the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack for the up coming Playstation 3 re-release. With the advantages of full stereo Dolby surround 7.1, the expectations are high; but these are the people who set their own incredibly high standard, so we expect even more! Another secret, yet unconfirmed rumor, is that after three years of absence from the FFXI fanfest, is that the next festival’s surprise guest appearance could be the Black mages, romping out their new album plus a mega-mix of FFXI favorites. But once again, that is just my guess. It is difficult to predict a band that does so much in secret, especially random shows around the world, but hey, it does make it exciting.
The new Distant Worlds tour will be featuring a two hour song set. The majority of the conducting will be done by Annie Roth, with all composition & special appearances by Uematsu. The
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