ReMix:Final Fantasy IX "A Royal Tournament in Cleyra" 4:01

A spirited, celebratory, & buoyant march/waltz arrangement of "Cleyra's Theme" from FF9, courtesy of Bluelighter (Guillaume Saumande), with featured performances from Bowlerhat & Chris:

"Here is an orchestra arrangement of "Cleyra's Theme" from FF9 (and a little of "One Danger Put Behind Us"), original music by Nobuo Uematsu.

I've started this some years ago, but I left it in standby to work on my "Treno" remix.

Two instrument players have collaborated with me: Bowlerhat for the flute and Chris | Amaterasu for the violin. I'm really grateful for that! Their recordings give to my arrangement a new dimension.

At the beginning, this arrangement was thought only for "Cleyra's Theme" (without the middle parts of this mix). But I found it interesting to introduce also "One Danger Put Behind Us" into the arrangement.

I had several influences for this one: Celtic, movie, march band... I came where I wanted, following my inspiration and my mood of the moment.

With the title, I tried to summarize all this. I liked the idea of a tournament, like there was in Middle Ages. I imagine the princess in the soft parts of the beginning, the knight's arrival (at pt5), the heroic fight (at pt6), the celebration of the winner who marries the princess at the end. :) Nothing to do with the original story. It's another vision of Cleyra!

On the whole, original sources are easily recognizable. Maybe the part 6 sounds strange. Two melodic lines and tonalities of the two original tracks overlap. Even if "One Danger Put Behind Us" is brought out in this part, notes of "Cleyra" reminds of the place of the scene and allow me to return to the center melody at the next part.

Enjoy!

Originals:

"Cleyra":

• 0'00 Melodic Line 1
• 0'36 ML2
• 0'56... repeated

"One Danger Put Behind Us"

• 0'20 ML3
• 0'42 ML4
• 1'03 unused
• 1'35... repeated

Arrangement:

1. 0'00 intro (Celtic style)
2. 0'10 ML1 (Celtic)
3. 0'43 ML2 (Celtic/funny -> march band)
4. 1'04 ML1 (march band)
5. 1'25 ML3 (march band)
6. 1'56 ML4 and ML1 together (heroic)
7. 2'40 ML1 (a little march band, soft instrumentation)
8. 2'58 ML2 (march band)
9. 3'37 outro (Celtic)

Credits:

• Bluelighter: arranger
• Bowlerhat: flute
• Chris | Amaterasu: violin

Great background info as always from Guillaume, and wow - what a fantastic piece! He's sent us excellent marches before, but this waltz/march hybrid is one of his very best, with not one but two live instruments elevating the production & some neat changes to tempo & time signature, with things feeling more narrative/organic as a result. It's also a good deal *louder* than his previous marches, at least by my memory, and while judges were unanimous, they did note that the bombast (especially on the percussion side) sometimes obscures details. But the contrast and assertive percussion also end up emphasizing the joyous, celebratory vibe; *somebody* just won *something*, and the people are stoked about it. Jivemaster writes:

"This open up with flutes, which sound great. Things begin to pick up at 0:44. The transition at 1:25 was quite good. The violin sounded nice there. The change at 1:57 had a nice feel to it too. You’ve certainly hit the Celtic feel you were going for. The drums do tend to boom quite a lot. The lead instruments here in this section could certainly do with being louder. The transition at 2:44 was quite surprising, and a playful departure from what came before. Violin comes back in soon after to help lead things out, with the flute coming back for the final bars. Production is mostly decent, apart from the aforementioned mixing issues. Arrangement has a lot of variety and adds upon the originals in a creative way."

Funny, this actually hit me as more English than Celtic, but either way it's got that 16th/17th century vibe. I actually like that it's mixed more aggressively, because - along with the more fluid tempo & signature work - it ends up feeling more liberated & jubilant than past efforts, while retaining all their other charms. Excellent, inspired, & inspiring work from Bluelighter, with enhancing contributions from Bowlerhat & Chris ~ Amaterasu!