Posted 2018-12-06, evaluated by the judges panel


Audio Mocha (Daniel Florez, f.k.a. Furorezu) takes Link to South America for a blend of electric guitar & traditional music:

"Another one of my covers that I have been sitting on for a while. This one, I wanted to make a remix in the same style of Afrosound, a Colombian instrumental band who combined electric guitar sound with traditional Andean music in the 1970s that has been described as having a hybrid cumbia sound. A good example for this style of music from them is "El Pesebre," which is a very common song to hear in the Antioquia region of Colombia during Christmas. Having grown up listening to them around Christmas time, I was hooked on their music once I finally found out more about them and the rest of their music. I am a huge fan of this type of music and wanted to try my hand at making something in its style myself.

I ended up choosing "Dragon Roost Island" as the song to mix. Dragon Roost Island's theme felt very natural due to its very Andean style, because its chord progression was ripe for translating to the I-V-I progression used in songs like "El Pesebre" and "Danza de los Mirlos," which is evident most in the bass guitar for that style of music. I've worked on this mix for a better part of the year since it is very tough to find a balance between keeping it fresh but not wandering from the motif too far, since I felt that that would stray too far from the style I was going for; working with percussion loops rather than the instruments individually also played a factor. Hopefully, it meets the OCR criteria, as this music style should become more known outside of Colombia and is very near and dear to me."

Very transformative, still recognizable, and I love the genre - I'm not knowledgeable enough to fully grok all the influences blending together, but I have a general affinity for Latin, South American, & Carribean music and have always wanted to see their rhythms, palettes, and energy represented more on OCR. My own Rolling Thunder mix was an early, well-intentioned, poorly-executed, and inanely-titled attempt to get the ball... rolling, in this regard. Thankfully we've since been graced with far, far better work than my feeble foray, and I'd include this mix of Daniel's in such good company. Sir_NutS has a bit more background, and weighs in:

"Ah Latin American music, something I am very familiar with. One of my pet peeves is that when someone tries to make a remix labeling it as salsa, cumbia or any other latin american genre, then they add some rhythm that's nothing like the real thing, but that would pass as one of those genres to a casual listener from outside LAN. So that being said I think you nailed the cumbia rhythm pretty closely, with all the right tambora and guarachaca (or guira) beats. It does make the arrangement as a whole feel a bit static, as that's the nature of these rhythms that are meant for people to dance, but there's enough melodic content to make up for it. I feel like adding tons of melodic content would break the illusion a bit for me, so what's there is enough.

I think the adaptation and the interpretation are enough to bring this up to the front page for me, though I can understand if some people will feel it's too static. I think the pro's balance out that aspect and makes for a pretty enjoyable arrangement."

It does sit on its own (great!) groove for a good bit, so judge concerns about static rhythm were not unwarranted, but I agree with Mike's take. As someone occasionally guilty of genre mislabeling (his pet peeve), my perspective is that it's generally more important for artists to be enthusiastic and feel free exploring new genres & experimenting than getting every last angle/word right, but I also respect and appreciate the insight & information that those with more direct experience provide. At any rate, I learned a thing or two, you might as well, and either way you've got a creative, colorful, & unique take on a classic Zelda theme - enjoy!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 4 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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CJthemusicdude
on 2024-05-01 12:55:40

I dig it! It's simple, it's fun and catchy, it's great! This would make an excellent replacement track for the source. (This remix made me go and look up the original source for context, and that's a compliment in my book.). Excellent job on this remix, bravo!

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ad.mixx
on 2018-12-06 17:53:51

Love it. The arrangement on this is especially good. It's very creative and does a lot with the original that I would have never thought of. Good shit!!

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Mr. Hu
on 2018-12-06 17:07:58

Terrific! Like vinyl that would be spinning in a record store at 7 pm on a Sunday as they’re getting ready to close.

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Liontamer
on 2018-12-06 13:28:16

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (Nintendo , 2003, GCN)
Music by Hajime Wakai,Kenta Nagata,Koji Kondo,Toru Minegishi
Songs:
"Dragon Roost Island"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Jazz,Latin
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar,Hand Drums
Additional:
Regional > South American
Time > 4/4 Time Signature

File Information


Name:
Legend_of_Zelda_The_Wind_Waker_Pajarito_Paisa_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
5,155,378 bytes
MD5:
be6df6e58db58fe6eaadd92eb468c459
Bitrate:
232Kbps
Duration:
2:54

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