Christopher Tin
3 HN recommenders · recommended in 4 months, 2016–2022
3:35 · 29M views · Oct 29, 2009
The official video for Baba Yetu, Christopher Tin's Swahili-language choral piece written as the theme to Civilization IV. It was the first video game music to win a Grammy.
HN commenters hold it up as the greatest video game song, evoking wonder and pride in humanity.
4 comments from Hacker News
> I honestly can’t remember anything special about Civ4/5/6 Aww c’mon, not even one thing? What about the greatest video game song ever produced (Baba Yetu): this video Agree on Alpha Centauri—definitely recommend picking up a copy on GOG for anyone in the mood for a classic strategy game timesink.
ABSOLUTELY. I am not plugged into a community of musicians these days, but in college and the decade afterwards we were hearing, performing music written by contemporary composers. Choral music, mostly. But cello concertos, crazy harpsichord binges, and banging on drums were there, too. A "Classical vernacular" these days would be blockbuster movie soundtracks! Are you (the article, its author) telling me that doesn't matter? To say nothing of new venues and art forms. I learned about Christopher Tin's song cycles via a soundtrack bundle marketed to video gamers. I am not a gamer, but I think I was shopping for a gift for my kids and holy cow I love his work. this video Eric Whitacre! Arvo Pärt! These are not obscure artists. Symphonies and opera houses perform fun and popular works during the summer season in the US. So now would be a good time to find stuff you might not expect.
Complaints about Civ's omission of the dark side of history ring hollow to me. Civ is, at its heart, a deeply aspirational and optimistic game. Watching the Baba Yetu intro from Civ IV[1] gives me the same sense of wonder and pride in humanity that Chris Hadfield's rendition of Space Oddity[2] does. Dwelling on the darkness in our history would be so discordant for a game like Civ. [1] this video [2] [LINK]
Olbigatory reference to Baba Yetu, the Swahili language song that the UN uses sometimes as kind of hymn this video (Original from Civ 4) [LINK] (my preferred version)