I have sad news, friends. It was confirmed on August 7th that The Black Mages, the Japanese instrumental rock band formed by Nobuo Uematsu, Kenichiro Fukui, and Tsuyoshi Sekito, has disbanded. The reason for the break up is unconfirmed, but issues involving copyright and distance between band members are speculated as possible causes. Thank you for all of your great music, The Black Mages, and we hope for a possible reunion in the future.Don't be too sad though. If you're looking new sources of Final Fantasy musical joy, look no further! Today, my Final Fantasy media focus is on symphonic and a capella groups that have covered Final Fantasy music. Enjoy!
Vintage Final Fantasy Medley by the A Cappella Men's Chorus
For those who find that they have the Final Fantasy battle music playing in their head over and over whenever they play the older games, this might not be the best video to watch! You'll be humming this original medley for hours!
All I can say is: incredible! It is impressive enough to see an original medley, but to see it performed with such spirit and fun is really amazing. I can honestly say I watched the entire 8:24 minutes of this video, I was so entertained. This video is a medley of all of the old school Final Fantasy jams that we all hold so dear to our hearts!
Best Moment: The beginning when they came marching out making those kazoo sounds! I bursted out laughing. What an introduction! I bet every Final Fantasy fan in the audience cracked a huge smile.
"Eminence Symphony Orchestra performed the piece composed by Nobuo Uematsu called 'One Winged Angel' released with the Playstation game by Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) called 'Final Fantasy VII'. The piece was performed at the Sydney Town Hall at the a concert known as A Night in Fantasia during October 2005"
This put chills down my spine. I can't imagine how amazing this sounded live. I wonder how the audience felt listening to this and if they knew this was a song composed for a video game. Absolutely incredible. I would be hard pressed to choose if this or the original version sounds better.
Best Moment: 1:30, when the focus shifts from the orchestra to span the entire group of performers, and the chorus begins. It was such a great surprise. The two groups really performed amazingly together.
"Music by Nobuo Uematsu. Arranged & Performed by Diwa de Leon. Direction, Cinematography, Editing, Sound Recording, Mixing & Mastering by Diwa de Leon. Recorded using Logic Studio 9. Edited with Adobe Premiere Pro. I'm a professional composer, arranger and a bit of a violinist. I like playing video game music for fun. Sheet music is NOT available as this is my own arrangement and it's not available anywhere else. I don't notate my works unless it is a necessity. Most of the time I record my works directly upon conceptualization."
Wow, this is probably the most creative arrangements of "One Wing Angel" I've ever heard! This entire piece of performed, arranged, recorded, mixed, mastered.... basically, EVERYTHING by the talented Diwa de Leon. Not only does this sound fantastic, but the visualization is really awesome. Each vocal part is split into a seperate window in the video, and there is up to 9 separate windows during the latin choral vocal part. Not to mention all of the awesome outfits that Diwa de Leon's wears - I'm loving that Mario Bros gamer chic!
Wow, this is probably the most creative arrangements of "One Wing Angel" I've ever heard! This entire piece of performed, arranged, recorded, mixed, mastered.... basically, EVERYTHING by the talented Diwa de Leon. Not only does this sound fantastic, but the visualization is really awesome. Each vocal part is split into a seperate window in the video, and there is up to 9 separate windows during the latin choral vocal part. Not to mention all of the awesome outfits that Diwa de Leon's wears - I'm loving that Mario Bros gamer chic!
Best Moment: 1:25, when there is the 9-screen split and the choir and the violin come into the mix. Diwa's vocal expressions in the top right window absolutely slayed me. Awesome!
Happy listening friends! Remember to discuss your feelings on The Black Mages' disbandment on our forums!
Sources: YouTube, Square Enix Music Online
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