Baba Yetu Wins Grammy!

[L_Lawliet]

Remember how The Escapist had that article a while back about Civilization IV's "Baba Yetu" being nominated for a Grammy award? Well, it just won!

This is the first time that a video game song has even been nominated for a Grammy, and the win not only paves the way for future video game scores, but it also shows just how far video games have come since the days of bloops and bleeps.

Check out the Grammy award winning performance here:
http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/10982/civilization-iv-wins-grammy-award

Congratulations to Christopher Tin, the Soweto Gospel Choir, and the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra! This truly is a great day to be a gamer!

 

[PunkyMcGee]

nice. but, How long ago did that game come out anyway to win a Grammy now?

 

[Cogwheel]

Ah, delicious progress. Not my favourite, but it's quite good, I admit.


Now, can we burn Montezuma in effigy to celebrate? Please? I mean, we all know that's what the game's really about.

 

[L_Lawliet]

The original recording came out five years ago, but the performance that was nominated and won the Grammy was a cover done by Video Games Live more recently. You can see the winning performance on the link in my original post.

 

[SimuLord]

I linked that Strategy Informer article on my Facebook, accompanied by the caption:
"Gaming evolves ever closer to being a legitimate, accepted mainstream form of entertainment and creative drive. The Helen Lovejoys are in retreat, let us keep them always on the defensive as we defend the incredible power of our medium. Gamers, this is a proud day."

 

[L_Lawliet]

Very well put my friend, very well put.

 

[xHipaboo420x]

Video game music doesn't need legitimacy, nor recognition.

If you like it, good for you. If you (sincerely) don't, then good for you. Gaming is like any other form of mass entertainment, in that it is based entirely on subjectivity.

Plus the Civ4 soundtrack sucked, where is the love for VVVVV's tunes?

 

[L_Lawliet]

I would beg to differ on the recognition part. As a genre, it still has a long way to go. Why should we care if other people recognize it? Because the more it is recognized, the more companies will want to make it, and that will make the music more readily available to fans. In addition, if the genre takes off, then there will be heightened competition among developers to develop better and better soundtracks, which in turn benefits the listening community.

In short, recognition leads to competition which leads to progress.

 

[lacktheknack]

nice. but, How long ago did that game come out anyway to win a Grammy now?

It does say in the article... it's because the arrangement that was played in Video Games Live! this year is the official Grammy winner.

 

[L_Lawliet]

This is true, the article has all of the details.

 

[L_Lawliet]

Pardon the double post, I just found Tin's acceptance speech on YouTube. He makes a big point of mentioning that the song is from a video game. It's a very nice acceptance speech overall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM_WzFnmtac&feature=player_embedded

 

[XzarTheMad]

Awesome! I love that song, and it definitely deserved some recognition.

Woop woop. Woop-woop, woop!

Also, CAPTCHA: Belief sourd. No, quite the opposite! Silly CAPTCHA!

 

[SimuLord]

Video game music doesn't need legitimacy, nor recognition.

If you like it, good for you. If you (sincerely) don't, then good for you. Gaming is like any other form of mass entertainment, in that it is based entirely on subjectivity.

Plus the Civ4 soundtrack sucked, where is the love for VVVVV's tunes?

It's worth noting that Baba Yetu had all the ingredients for being Grammy bait, since the voters for those sorts of awards tend to go nuts over anything that's sufficiently multicultural and they love to show off their "diversity"...and it doesn't get more "diversity" in Hollywood's eyes than black people singing in an African language. This is not to say that Baba Yetu suffers in any way for being "black" (and indeed I didn't intend it as a racist comment), only to say that this was very "play to your audience" when it comes to the faux-enlightenment of award show voters.