ReMix:Final Fantasy IX "Mysteries of the Marsh" 6:00

Hey there fellow planet-dwellers, tree-huggers, and mouth-breathers, and happy Earth Day! :-D To celebrate the importance of our singular shared home, we've got Jorito (Jorrith Schaap) assembling a baker's dozen of performers (including Earth Kid!) in a grandiose tribute to Gaia's wetlands!

Credits:

• Jorito: Producer, Arranger, Mixing Engineer
• Earth Kid: Recorder (Soprano), Recorder (Tenor), Hammered Dulcimer, Harp, Vocals (Soprano), Vocals (Alto)
• Alex Hill: Tuba
• Bassoonify (Michael Gebhart): Bassoon
• Bonnie Bogovich: Vocals (Soprano), Vocals (Alto)
• Damian Nguyen: Oboe, English Horn
• Dean Nguyen: Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Cymbals, Glockenspiel, Marimba
• Gamer of the Winds (Gregory Orosz): Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Penny Whistle
• Ian Martyn: Vocals (Tenor), Mandolin
• JohnStacy: Trumpet, Horn, Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone
• JoyDreamer: Vocals (Alto), Vocals (Soprano)
• Matheus Manente: Vocals (Tenor), Vocals (Bass)
• Peter Jones: Vocals (Bass)
• Ronin Op F: Violins
• James C. Hoffman: Mastering

We've heard Jorito and Earth Kid warp the nobility of "Cid's Theme" into a pop piece; now Jorito's wrangled an elite team-up for an earnest orchestral and choral transformation of one of FF9's oddest themes, "Marsh of the Qu Tribe". :-) Jorito writes in:

"I was wondering what a combination of folk and orchestral instruments could sound like, and "Qu's Marsh," as an oddball track for an oddball group of characters, was inspiring with its melodic material and the challenge to translate it into a fun arrangement. Things got a bit out of hand while arranging, but if you were ever curious what kind of adventures and epic stories could await you whilst catching frogs in the marsh, well, this might just be the track for you."

I love spontaneous concepts like this! For the non-musicians among us like myself, how can you not envy the story here? Whenever I come up with random musical ideas, I record them onto my iPhone, but I don't have the skill or werewithal to ideate and then manifest a full-fledged arrangement with a bevy of talented instrumentalists. Maybe I should just ask Jorito to make an idea of mine a reality, as it's obvious that large scopes are comfortably in his wheelhouse. :-)

Steve Pordon and Mattias Häggström Gerdt's past pair of OC ReMixes of this theme both lean into odd instrumentation much like the original source tune, so it's refreshing to hear Jorrith conceptualize something in a different style entirely. If you had to heroically trek through Qu's Marsh in some sort of expanded journey within a future Final Fantasy IX Remake(?!), this could easily be the backdrop, whether spliced into segments depending on the scenario and stress levels, or taken as a whole within an evolving extended cinematic. Respect once again to -- is there any argument at this point? -- OCR's most ambitious and prolific big project collaborator!