My Global Music Autobiography
- Jan 7, 2020
- 3 min read
Growing up in tiny Seneca, South Carolina, I feel like my experience with music from cultures other than my own was very limited. Most of my childhood exposure to music came from my church and my parents. The former bored me, to be frank, with their drawn out and preachy verses, while the latter consisted of artists such as Queen and Carrie Underwood - with absolutely no in between. I loved these songs, and still do, but they are not outside of what was considered "normal" in my upbringing. The only real exposure to "other" music before middle school was over the speaker in our local Mexican-American restaurant, and one Native American song I vaguely remember from elementary school.
Then, when I was five years old, I discovered a game that would influence my love for music and the outside world forever.
My father had an ancient PC that he played Nintendo games on. When that broke, he instead downloaded them onto our Wii, and I was sucked into the world of The Legend of
Zelda: Ocarina of Time. This game was older than I was by about a year, and I was far too young to get into the story or gameplay, but I was completely enamored by the music. I would often play on my father’s save file so I could go to the ranch area and listen to the music that played there.
It wasn't until I was much older that I truly began to appreciate Ocarina of Time's music, as I was able to actually play and progress through the game to reach new areas - and by extent, new songs. I fell deeper in love with the music as I discovered each track. Each one was composed in a wonderfully unique style: the theme on the opening screen was like a piano sonata, the overworld a full symphony, the desert full of Spanish guitars and trumpets, the ranch a simple country tune, the temple a Gregorian chant, the dungeons eerie soundscapes. I had no idea there were so many different types of music – but, perhaps because it was all connected to a story, world, and characters I had come to adore, I loved every single note. Koji Kondo, who composed for this game and many others, is still one of my favorite composers. The variety of music he has been able to create over the years is nothing short of amazing, and his work sparked my interest in Japan and its music that remains to this day.
Another game, Capcom's Okami, inspired a love for Japan's more traditional music; the entire game is stylized around Japan's mythology and art. I became further interested in
Japanese animation and grew to enjoy its pop music. From there, I decided to explore other countries and their style of music, all inspired by the video games I had become obsessed with. I loved the Russian flare in the Tetris music, and oddly enough gained an appreciation for Polka, if only for how purely giddy it makes me feel. I would listen to the music I knew arranged for different styles just to explore the feel of it - like a mariachi or percussion band. Admittedly, it is still mostly American and Japanese music that I listen to, but I hope to continue expanding my horizons.
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