Gerudo Valley
December 3, 2016 5:11 PM   Subscribe

Gerudo Valley (alternate), composed by Koji Kondo, is part of the soundtrack of the popular 1998 Nintendo 64 title: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The valley itself lies to the west of Hyrule and can be traversed by jumping across on Epona. Recently, an Unreal Engine 4 recreation of the location was produced. The tune has been covered quite a lot (more below the fold) or reworked by DJs or given a full orchestral interpretation (alternative). Also, the original as a 10 hour loop.

Notable remakes and covers
* Acoustic and electric guitars.
* Acapella (contains cat). Sidetrack - he really likes doing acapella versions of video game tunes with his cat.
* Legend of Zelda 25th Anniversary Symphony.
* A calming marimba version (also in a related previous on MetaFilter)
* Another Mariachi cover, also previous on MetaFilter.
* Acoustic guitar jam and they also cover lots of other video game tunes.

Some more...
* Appropriately on an ocarina and another.
* Spoof band who still play well.
* Violin in a river canyon (caution: contains Navi).
* Another acoustic guitar.
* Mario Paint Composer.

A few news articles on the Unreal Engine 4 recreation of Gerudo Valley (above the fold) from Uproxx, Gamespot, GameRant and Nerd Reactor.

Yet more...
* Violin played by ear.
* Metal and another and power metal.
* Hard rock.
* Another guitar cover.
* Solo keyboard.

And finally... (though hundreds more exist out there)
* Piano / Synthesia.
* Dubstep.
* Electro house.
* Floppy drives.
* And to finish, on a kazoo and if you really like kazoo interpretations of video game tunes...
posted by Wordshore (10 comments total) 28 users marked this as a favorite
 
This reminds me, Zelda Day is coming up on the 26th....
posted by JHarris at 6:26 PM on December 3, 2016 [3 favorites]


Oh, and BTW, right now My Nintendo, Nintendo's new rewards program, has orchestral renditions of three major Zelda tunes available as 3DS software for 100 "platinum points" each. It's really not hard to earn platinum points either!
posted by JHarris at 6:43 PM on December 3, 2016 [1 favorite]


I love how orchestral presentations of game music have taken off. I understand the appeal to folks of my age and younger, but I wonder how it's playing with older audiences? I noticed the camera on one of the early orchestral links zooms in on a grey-haired violist -- what does he think about spending time on this piece instead of Tchaikovsky? About the audience cheering wildly?

I was a counselor at the UVA Young Writers' Workshop in 2001, where we had songwriting. One of our campers there was a shy girl who mostly wanted to work on arrangements of game music. Some of the other counselors were kind of troubled by this. She *did* know those were actually written by someone, right? Why couldn't she be like a normal kid and write her own songs?

By the time we came to performances, everyone came around, realizing how valid the music was by its own merits.
posted by gusandrews at 6:56 PM on December 3, 2016 [4 favorites]


I love this! One more: the last track on Team Teamwork's The Ocarina of Rhyme. Busta Rhymes, NSFW audio.
posted by knuckle tattoos at 9:00 PM on December 3, 2016 [4 favorites]


This is an excelelnt post.
posted by Itaxpica at 11:34 PM on December 3, 2016 [2 favorites]


The orchestral arrangements seem tone deaf to me. This song is (for me) about the contrast between the melody and the driving beat. The orchestras seem to be focusing on the melody exclusively. It's like hearing "Mars, Bringer of War" without the bam-dabadabam-bam-bambambam.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 9:15 AM on December 4, 2016


Cello.

Koji Kondo has written some amazing music, including the most recognized theme song ever, with a nice Calypso rhythm.
posted by eye of newt at 5:06 PM on December 4, 2016 [1 favorite]


Excellent post! And this track always gives me Gypsy Kings vibes - which I'm very OK with.
posted by RobertFrost at 3:46 PM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Ummm...I meant cello (although the marimba was interesting too).
posted by eye of newt at 8:55 PM on December 5, 2016 [1 favorite]


Gerudo Valley is probably my favorite Legend of Zelda song, so this post is a gold mine for me and my ears. Thank you for posting all of these wonderful delights.
posted by minsies at 7:53 AM on December 7, 2016 [1 favorite]


« Older It's like having an extra U.S. on the planet   |   “I just want the system to follow the rules,” he... Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments