One of the brightest components of an action adventure game Kena: Bridge of Spirits – this is her soundtrack, created together with the traditional Indonesian music ensemble Gamelan Çudamani… How this unusual collaboration came about was told by GameInformer.
It all started with the game composer looking for sources of inspiration for the soundtrack Jason Gallati turned to the work of Çudamani. After listening to their work, he decided to write to them if they would mind working together. Deputy manager of the ensemble Emiko Saraswati initially hesitated, not wanting Gamelan’s music to be used in any game, but after talking with Gallati, she nevertheless agreed to cooperate, because she liked how the topics raised in “Ken” resonate with their culture, values and philosophy.
After a successful recording session in California, Gallati and the studio’s creative director Ember Lab Mike Grier went to work in more depth on the soundtrack in Bali, where the bulk of Gamelan Çudamani’s lineup was located. The bamboo tools are too big to be easily transported around the world, so a trip there was really indispensable.
Ensemble led by the founder Devas Putu Berat composed original music based on game footage and text descriptions of scenes, and then Jason used it to create the final compositions. The close cooperation of all musicians allowed the Ember Lab team to avoid pitfalls that other developers stumbled upon in due timefor example, the creators of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, who accidentally included religious Islamic prayers in one of their songs.
“Iason had samples of beautiful sacred music for us, so we had to give it up. After that, Deva created new music that conveyed similar feelings, but was no longer religious. [священные] fragments are not appropriate for use in video games. It was really cool to see how this brand new music, composed literally last year, conveys the same feelings of spiritual power and mystery. “
“It’s common in Western music that they come in and say,“ Oh, what great music your culture has. ”For them, it’s just sound, but it’s not that simple. In Gamelan’s spiritual nature, it is essential. we treat musical instruments as people. They are respected as people and do not step over them. Imagine that you came to a meeting with other parents and stepped over their child. You would not do that. You would never step over a child. So they also deal with instruments, “said Emiko Saraswati.
According to Gallati, the collaboration with Berata and the rest of the musicians has been incredibly productive and rewarding. Despite the fact that at first they were not enthusiastic about this idea, in the end everyone was happy with the results. Check out the first two tracks from the soundtrack “Kena” below…
Kena: Bridge of Spirits will be released in Q1 2023 on PS5, PS4 and PC.
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