Tuesday Tunes

I don’t call myself religious. I try to stay away from any debate about whole thing, really. And when I turn away from real world conversations, it’s commonly to computer games that I flee. So it’s surprising to find that one of my favourite songs from any video game is actually quite religious.

The Song(s)
Song: Baba Yetu
Artist: Christopher Tin, Soweto Gospel Choir
Album: Calling All Dawns - 2009 - Tin Works
Method of discovery: Playing ‘Civilization IV’

Research: Christopher Tin was a fan of Sid Meier’s Civilization series, where you are challenged to build a civilization that ‘stands the test of time’. At a reunion, Tin mentioned this to his former college roommate, now a game designer working on the latest instalment. Soren Johnson, the roommate, then asked Christopher to write a theme for the new game. But most of that you can find out on the wikipedia page. Christopher took ‘The Lord’s Prayer” (Our Father, who art in heaven etc.), translated it into Swahili, and backed it with Western Strings and an African influenced soundscape. Most of that I found out through various articles years after listening to it originally.

Personal thoughts: I could tell you about the multiple accolades this song has won, and the many praises it’s recieved from critics. OR … I could tell you that I would often load Civ-IV and simply let the song play out in the main menu. It’s such a beautiful composition. There is a thought that video game music is the perfect music to study to, because it’s designed to keep you motivated and engaged, without taking your attention. In this aspect Christopher has failed in the most spectacular way. Baba Yetu captured the feeling of building an empire, and it’s not accidental. I know not everyone is up for the theory, but the short version is: If there were seven steps on a staircase, this song goes from the bottom, jumps five steps, steps up once, then hops up to the top. This Journey of ascending key centres helps to give the song it’s triumphant quality at the end, and has the neat trick of feeling like returning to where it began, making the whole thing feel delightfully cyclical. It felt like you were achieving something just listening to this song. It’s one of my go-to pick me up songs, and I’ve listened to it enough times that I’ve actually begun to learn the lyrics on purpose so I don’t mangle them.

I’m learning a song in Swahili because it’s just that good

Theory: The main Chorus (Baba Yetu) follows a I-vi-IV-V, although the second time it’s transposed up by a fifth. The Verse cycles vi-IV-I-V twice before ending on a II to ease the transition into that transposition mentioned earlier. The Pre-Bridge enters a weird series of changes, that truly change the key center multiple times, but for the sake of ease, if it stuck in the preceeding choruses key, it would be bVII-I-ii-I-iv-III-bvi-bV. The Bridge itself modulates up a step, rounding the Verse chords in the new key before stepping through IV-vi three times and ending in V-bVI-bVII. After that it goes up one more time back to the original key.

Give it a go: if you’ve never played Civ-IV, and don’t listen to things in other languages

Give it a miss: If you’ve played so much Civ that Gandhi nuking you is no longer a surprise

[links]
Spotify: Baba Yetu, Christopher Tin, Tuesday Tunes
Wikipedia: Baba Yetu, Christopher Tin
Christopher Tin: Website