Interview with Nobuo Uematsu

When Nobuo Uematsu visited Stockholm thanks to the PLAY! A Video Game Symphony concert there June 14, only a few got an interview with him. We didn't, although we chatted a bit with him after the concert. But now we have been lucky enough to get an interview through e-mail, so enjoy it!

You went to Stockholm for the Play concert. You also spent some days in Sweden prior to the concert. How did you spend the time? Did you experience some especially interesting or some culture shock?

- What surprised me the most in Stockholm was that the sun was shining so bright! As it is a northern country I thought it was cool even in the summer. But because of this I often got thirsty and got to drink lots of beer, so I was happy anyway! This time I only visited the city of Stockholm, but for the next time I want to get outside the city, to the forest and the lakeside.

You were in Chicago in May and joined the first Play concert there. How was your impression of the concert - listening to the songs, meeting the people and so on?

- I think it’s fantastic with such a concert, where game music from all over the world can be gathered at the same place!

Please tell us some more about the Play fanfare. How was it made and what was your aim with that composition?

- I wanted a fitting piece to use when the “curtain rises” for a magnificent concert! I don’t know the general opinion of it, but I like it pretty much.

Have you listened to it, and if so, what do you think about the music (besides “Kiss Me Good-Bye”) in Final Fantasy XII?

- I’m sorry, I haven’t listened to it yet.

Do you have plans for another new solo album, like Phantasmagoria from 1994?

- No, not for the moment.

Final Fantasy IV - Celtic Moon was recorded in Ireland, Final Fantasy V - Dear Friends in Finland and Final Fantasy VI - Grand Finale in Italy. If you could record a new arranged CD, what style and where would you like to record it?

- Right now I can’t come up with any specific ideas, but sometime I would want to try to work with a musician who plays traditional Japanese music.

Music in the “chiptune” (music made with old computers or game consoles) style is popular in Sweden. How do you like that kind of music, and how is it received in Japan?

- Everyone says that the sound from old consoles have a “cheap” sound ... but that the sound is “cheap” doesn’t have any connection with the music being interesting. Personally, I really like this “cheap-sounding“ music!

You are working with The Black Mages on the band’s third album. We are very much looking forward to it. Do you think you can reveal the name of one song that will be included?

- The tracklist is still a secret, but there is a possibility it will be a double disc album. In that case, one disc will be as the two previous albums, with arrangements of tunes from Final Fantasy. The other disc will then maybe have newly composed songs in rock-operatic style, based on Japanese mythology.

Would The Black Mages like to tour in Europe in the future, and visit a country like ... Sweden?

- Of course we want to! You’re welcome to invite us!

You’ve left Square Enix for your new company, Smile Please. How does your job as president of Smile Please compare to when you worked at Square Enix?

- The work hasn’t changed much, I’m still composing music each and every day, as always! But it’s nice not to have to travel to Shinjuku through all the crowding of cars and people.

You recently composed the theme for the upcoming game Super Smash Bros. Brawl. As we understand, you will only do one song for that game, but you are open to more collaboration in the future. If you could choose, who is your dream collaboration partner?

- Yes, I was asked to only compose one piece for Super Smash Bros. Brawl. At the moment, I don’t have any specific dream collaborations in mind, but I’m always open to collaborations, as long as they’re fun.

The concert Final Fantasy - Symphonic Suite in 1989 was the first symphonic Final Fantasy concert. If you compare to this year’s Voices concert, or the recent Play concert in Stockholm, what do you think was similar, and what do you think differed this time?

- 1989 was the year of my first concert with an orchestra. As everything was new to me, I got very nervous and wasn’t relieved until the concert had been performed. With the Voices concert, I was involved in everything from choosing which tunes to include, in which order they would be performed and so on. As I had the opportunity to make a lot of decisions it was challenging. The Play concert series involves music from many different game companies and consoles and has also become a project independent of national borders and also gathering people for concerts. 20 years ago, I had a wish for something like this to become a reality. I’m very happy now that it really has happened!

”Dancing Mad” from Final Fantasy VI was performed at the concert at Games Convention in Leipzig, August 23. But before it had actually been performed, we asked Uematsu to tell us more about this unique arrangement.

- In fact, we have performed an arranged version of “Dancing Mad”, pretty faithful to the original from the game, with The Black Mages, but this is the first time the piece has been arranged for an orchestra. I’ve heard there will be a pipe organ in use and I’m looking forward to that!

How are you involved in the newly announced Press Start 2006 - Symphony of Games concert in Tokyo? Do you have any idea why it took so long for such a concert (featuring music from various game series) to be a reality in Japan again, so many years after the Game Music Concert series of the 1990’s?

- In fact, I’m pretty much an initiator of Press Start! Recently, game music concerts have been more and more common outside Japan, but from the beginning Japan also had such concerts. I don’t know the reason to this, but in the last years there hasn’t been many game music concerts in Japan. That’s why I think there would be game music concerts each and every year here. Then, when I met up with some people from the game industry and also Taizo Takemoto (conductor of Tour de Japon) at a party, we sat down to come up with something and in the blink of an eye we had a concept. The work proceeded from there.

- For this year’s concert there will be an orchestra performing, but for the coming years I also want to add bands playing. I would also like to add music from foreign game music composers to the concert program!

Interview Conducted by Spelmusik.net [2006-08-29]
Photo © Michael Finnermark