ReMix:Street Fighter II: The World Warrior "Blanka in Brasil" 2:53

NOT THE HEADBITE! From newcomer AlanGee15 (Alan Garcia) comes a sweet arrangement of Blanka's theme that gives it a legit African/South American jazz makeover. The artist writes:

"It has been 20 years since the release of SF II: The World Warrior and to this day I have always sang and shared my passion about the music composed by the three composers involved in the game. The one I have always been most passionate about is "Blanka's Theme". I always dreamed of hearing this song arranged in a very African/South American way. This tune was written with the time signature in 4/4, but syncopates to a 3/4 time by use of triplets. I knew doing this would really bring out the beautiful melody I love and also make room for some solid percussion as the foundation to the tune. Taking the melody are nylon guitar and piano. A synth voice is used to support the acoustic instruments. Traditionally, the foundation of this song is the bassline. But since the bassline really was written as a support to the unique chords of the song by holding a pedal to the root note, I gave it to an African instrument known as the 'Kora' and had it be an arpeggiation of sorts. Thank you for giving all VGM composers/arrangers/remixers the opportunity to spread their passion and an opportunity to be heard."

Thank YOU; the last arrangement of this theme we posted was McVaffe's ReMix back in 2000, the first full year of OCR's existence! While that mix has held up relatively well, even the mighty Vafeas would probably admit that it could use some company. While this is a relatively short jam, and some elements that loop/repeat could have been varied a bit more, the execution & syncopation are excellent and really transport you to the Southern Hemisphere. It's mellow & animated at the same time, and we could always use more Latin & Carribean-styled arrangements - the Southwestern College Afro-Cuban Jazz Ensemble's take on Ristar comes to mind as further proof. Emunator summed this one up nicely:

"Wow! I'm really impressed here, this kind of jazzy/instrumental style reminds me heavily of old-school McVaffe/Red Tailed Fox/Malcos and I, for one, have sorely missed hearing more subs like this. I really love the dynamic piano chords/melodies that dance around a relatively static backing track/groove. I would have loved to hear a bit more in the way of other instruments and solos, but what you have here is an extremely solid jam.

You've definitely made the most out of a relatively-small amount of content/loops, and for a track that doesn't even reach 3 minutes I was a bit disappointed to see how repetitive it got, but I think the quality of the adaptation and production is enough to overshadow the static instrumentation/arrangement. Keep sending stuff our way, you're showing a great deal of talent in a genre that's been notably absent from OCR lately!"

Guifrog's been doing a great job in general of representing myriad world influences in most of his ReMixes, but there's always room for more, to be sure. I'm definitely hoping we hear from Alan again because I always had my own mental image of what Blanka's theme might sound like if arranged in a genre more obviously South American, and this fits the bill - it's a mix I've always wanted to hear, couldn't have done nearly as well myself, and will now think of whenever I hear the theme. That all combines for a win in my book, and whether you were mutated by electric eels & raised in the Amazon after your plane crashed OR you simply enjoy great music, I think you'll dig it!