Music: Prelude to the Tapa

Greetings, Dreamers!

In the coming weeks, we'll be releasing more information on the Tapa, Newhome's mightiest (and meatiest) native gentas. While Golden Treasure 1 featured the wonderful music of my old co-worker James Gabriel, this time, we're planning on a more custom approach. Being a lifelong classical musician, I have always dreamed of producing and including original music to go with my writing. Quite by chance, I was contacted by Daniel Iannantuono. He was looking for work, and was unaware that we already had several points of contact already, as he learned his craft at Interlochen Arts Academy, a place which I live quite near to and to which both sides of my famiily (mine and my wife's) are deeply connected. He even sat next to my sister in Chemistry class in his high school years!

Together, we spent a fun week playing with Newhome cultures represented in sound. Here was the primary direction I gave him:

"The Tapa are the largest sentient species on the planet. Hailing from a lush, jungle-like continent, they have expansive minds and love beautiful, meandering melodies. Their first musical instruments were their own noses, which, when pinched and kneaded in the right way while blowing can make some interesting sounds.

This led them to develop a musical style revolving around wind instruments. They make instruments out of wood, glass, and gold, which is far more plentiful on their planet than ours and is their most common metal. Their traditional instruments often have a breathy quality, like pan flutes or shakuhachi, and have melodies which swoop and soar while still being relaxed and thoughtful, like the Tapa themselves. Duets and trios are common, and they enjoy forming chords, with open fifths being considered lucky.

More advanced instruments sonically resemble earth piccoloes and clarinets and they supplement it with chimes and stretched-leather drums ranging in size from bongo to timpani (and well beyond... Tapa are BIG). They do not use a standard Western music scale; feel free to experiment a bit.

When the dragons arrived, a dragon known as The Impresario took over the continent and transformed it into Carnivalia, the land of unending celebration, where everyone is both an employee and a guest in a giant theme park. The Impresario helped develop a new Tapa super-instrument which is similar to a calliope in many ways, but powered by the breath of several Tapa. Their music now has a very carnival-esque flair, with lots of high-pitched, high-tempo melodies. Think "Carnival Fantasia for Two Calliopes" and you get modern Carnivalian music. Stick to their non-standard scale, but swap "thoughtful and beautiful" for "FUN!".

One sample of a traditional piece, showing their beautiful minds and slow-moving but thoughtful culture, and one in a modern faster-moving Carnivalian style (and yet still recognizably Tapa in some ways) are what I'm looking for here. The Carnivalian music should be more exciting but less deeply beautiful than their traditional music; we're mirroring in their musical culture their sudden transformation from a philosophical jungle culture to a fast-paced urban one, a transition which has brought them many blessings and conveniences but also has cost them, culturally."

With this set of instructions, Daniel produced five tracks exploring Tapa popular music. Beginning with the one attached to this post, he continued down the Tapa historical path, finally arriving at Carnivalia. I've attached them all to this post.

These were test tracks, and may not make it into the final game. Or maybe they will! Won't you share your honest opinions below? Tapa music is, of course, a very vast subject, and these don't even begin to cover their musical diversity, but what do you think of it as a starting point?

-L