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It’s Music Monday! The time of the week where we talk about a various piece of video game music that has made a mark on me for one reason or another!
It’s so cool when you hear a song and it sticks with you, yeah? For better or for worse, that song has made an impact in your life. Perhaps it’s something that pops in your head when you’re feeling a certain feeling or it’s attached to a memory?
This week’s Video Game Track does that for me. I didn’t play the game a lot but I listened to the song so much.
This song is Baba Yetu, which is the opening song to Sid Meier’s Civilization IV.
For those of you who didn’t know, the lyrics are The Lord’s Prayer in Swahili. Growing up, I lived in a household that didn’t allow me to listen to a lot of popular music. Civilization IV came out in October 2005, which would’ve been my freshman year in High School. My dad was a big fan of the Civilization franchise so it was an early buy for him. After he installed the game, he and I gathered around the computer to experience the beginning of the game. The opening cinematic started and I was just put in awe of the music combined with the visuals of what was basically the “evolution of Civilization.”
My love for the song, though, was actually solidified later by the release of Video Games Live, which is a group that would go to orchestras around the world and play video game music. There were two amazing covers of this song on their albums. One was in the Civilization IV Medley in Level 1:
and the other was the duet version (my preferred version) in Level 2:
I attempted in high school to get my choir teacher to let us sing this in our choir but never had the opportunity. I did however have the opportunity in 2008-2009 to go to a “reading band” at Capital University where we almost had the opportunity to play a part of it in a Video Games Live medley for concert band. A reading band was where they brought a bunch of students together and sight-read music prior to release. Sort of a beta test.
Back to the song though, Christopher Tin does an amazing job of combining the tribal music with the orchestra. The melody is simple and easy to sing along with, even if you don’t know the words. This is also one of those songs that hits me in just the right part that even in the intro sometimes I can get choked up or emotional at the swelling orchestra.
Video game music is great, isn’t it? Have you heard this song before? Let me know in the comments, or let’s talk about it on Discord!
