I love a bit of game music. From the early days of Streets of Rage, Zelda and Sonic to modern classics such as Skyrim, Last of Us, and many, many more, the music in a game has always been a huge part of the experience for me. Thankfully, the art is getting some well deserved recognition in recent years, with shows like Video Games Live, the Sonic Symphony, and – today’s topic – the Game Music Festival.
Celebrating music in not just the act of listening but in discussions from industry veterans. the GMF seeks to help spread the word of the work that these artists put out, enabling more people to hear and experience it even if they don’t play games.
I wasn’t able to attend every panel and show unfortunately, but I did sit in on the BAFTA Games Panel: Exploring the Cultural Impact of Video Game Music. It was an interesting discussion from folk across the industry – composers, producers, media – and highlighted just how far the scene and art has come.
CEO of Black Screen Records Kevin Schulz told an anecdote about his physical record store in Cologne; a Depeche Mode concert was on nearby recently, and some fans came in to browse. They were dismissive of things, asking if it was all bleeps and bloops (something pointed out by the host as being slightly hypocritical considering the source) but when he put something on to show them they had their minds blown. Others told of more and more people expressing an interest in not only listening to the music outside of gaming, but actively pursuing it as a viable career.
It was an interesting discussion, and it’s great to hear them extol the virtues of game music while acknowledging there’s still a way to go in terms of rights issues and people being fairly compensated.
The main attraction for me though was The Sounds of the Fireflies. (I know the website I’m writing for right now, but bare with me).
This was an hour-plus of music from The Last of Us series, performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra and composer Gustavo Santaolalla. For a man of 72, he played instruments and sang with the energy of a teenager. The main theme of The Last of Us was a big reason I initially got stuck into that world, and to hear it live here – by the man who wrote it – gave me goosebumps. Santaolalla even commented during how he’d purposely written the score with as few instruments as possible to match the vibe of the games setting, but that it was cool to hear it now with the backing of a full orchestra.
There were explosive moments of energy as the full production swung into the music, but plenty of sombre moments as Santaolalla played either solo or with minimal assistance. He even included some of his original songs not written for the games or show, but that he felt could represent characters like Joel, or Bill and Frank.
Even sitting here now, a few days removed from the performance, I’ve just thought about the penultimate performance of the main theme and it gave me goosebumps just sitting here, playing it back in my head.
There were more than a few standing ovations throughout, all rightly deserved in my eyes, and that hour-plus runtime just seemed to disappear. It’s an experience I’ll not soon forget.
Later on there were panels with the cast of Baldur’s Gate 3, as well as a performance of that games score which by all accounts was just as stunning as well.
This was my first time attending the Game Music Festival, though it was the events fifth year, but you can bet I’ll be keeping a keen eye on what the next year’s line-up may be. If you’re even remotely interested in the music of videogames, I’d highly recommend going along and experiencing it for yourself.
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