Game Tunes! Japanese Girls! Super Cute Violin Go Go Go!

The girl on the left, believe it or not, is an enormously talented violinist by the name of Ayako Ishikawa. But tonight all that dozens of heavy set geeks thought as they drooled over her was “Gee… I wish that super cute violinist was my girlfriend because I love all things Japanese, which she most definitely is!”

Recently I wrote an article for GameAxis that briefly covered the history of video game music and included a bit about a group that was coming down to Singapore from Australia. They’re called Eminence, and they’re a bunch of classically trained musicians who got fed up with traditional orchestral music being considered “real music” and game music being considered… not music. Super Cute Ayako was one of the more recent additions to the troupe. As a result of me writing said article, I managed to score some tickets for The Wife and I, since the organizers seemed extremely happy that someone actually wrote an article with a fair amount of confidence and knowledge of the field, and I even got a thank you on the back of the program along with the GameAxis editors.

It was a freakish experience, but very, very cool. The first thing that immediately struck me as bizzare was the fact that there wasn’t a musician on the stage over the age of 35. And the same went for the 98% of the audience. Of course, the other freaky thing was when they started to perform. This wasn’t a full orchestra, it was an ensemble of two violinists, a pianist, a drummer and guitarist, along with Yasunori Mitsuda, a notable Japanese game composer who played on a very old looking Greek, mandolin-ish type instrument.

As soon as they songs started up, it was very strange for me. I think this is the first time I’ve kind of been “touched” in a way during a concert. I’ve been to plenty of concerts with some incredibly talented musicians and the music has always been soaring and amazing and inspiring. But this is the first time I’ve heard the music and thought to myself “I know that… I grew up with that music as a kid…” and it went to some other part of my brain that traditional classical music doesn’t go and gave me a shiver. As stupid as it sounds, just hearing the themes of Chrono Cross or Xenosaga being played out immediately set off images in my head of those games, those moments and I got genuine chills from the recognition. Also, according to The Wife’s theory, the fact that two immensely talented violinists didn’t help matters, because she believes that the sound of a live violin being played goes directly to the “Emo Lobe” of the brain and pretty much makes you want to cry whether you want to or not. Something about the particular frequency it resonates at.

All I know for sure is that the performance was a LOT of fun. I hope in Toronto the Play! Video Game Symphony Orchestra will show up again (they already played there in September) and bring the full sonic assault of stuff like Final Fantasy and Halo out in force. ‘Cause I have to admit, it was very cool but very bizarre to be hearing classical music, get really excited about it, and then afterwards get the kind of applause and hooting and hollering normally associated with a rock concert. Positively surreal, man. But fun!