Hello from Christopher Tin

classical_hero said:

Why did you decide to use foreign languages in your first album?

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Well, the first album was really all an extension of Baba Yetu... but because I didn't want it to be an 'African' album, but rather a world album, I had to go out and find some other languages for people to sing in!

Uberfrog said:

I've always been interested in languages, and the thing that really drew me to Calling All Dawns was the eclectic range of languages and musical traditions used in the songs.

It includes lyrics taken from ancient sources like the Bhagavad Gita for Sukla-Krsne (according to Wikipedia anyway), as well as original lyrics and adaptations like Baba Yetu. My question is how you decided on the languages and sources you used. Were there pieces and languages you were already acquainted with, or did you do a lot of research into world music?

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I did a TON of research. This album would not have existed in the pre-Google/pre-Wikipedia era.

As for how I chose the languages, really, I wanted it to be as inclusive of an album as possible, so I tried to find cultures that represented the different corners of the globe. I also tended to favor cultures that had particularly interesting vocal performance traditions (like the Irish, or the Maori). There's a lot still out there that I'd like to write, though. For example, I'm fairly certain I want to work with Le Mystere Des Voix Bulgares sometime soon. I have a composer friend (Olivier Deriviere) who did a great game soundtrack with them (Alone In The Dark). He's promised to introduce me to them, should I want.

TheMulattoMaker said:

I don't have a question- more of a minor gripe. Sometimes when I load Civ4, in antipication of my teeny little bit of available playing time, I get so distracted. The sun comes up over Asia, little lights start popping up around the Med, and Baba Yetu takes me away...

...what? Oh. Click on "Single Player". But Baba Yetu's still playing...

...what? Oh. Click on "Load Game". But Baba Yetu has started over and I want to hear it again...

And then my computer has this habit of finishing right before the best part of the song, abruptly yanking me from my Baba Yetu trance. Sometimes makes me wanna close Civ just to restart and hear some more Baba Yetu. Keeps taking me away from my Civving.

Seriously though sir, awesome work, and thanks.

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Well, I suppose that's why I released it on CD... so people could get on with their Civ playing, and not feel guilty, knowing they could always listen to it outside of the game. Hah.

christophertin said:

I wasn't asked to participate in Civ V.

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unbelievable.
I'd really like to know why they didn't think of you .



...and next question:
What work related project are you dreaming off? What people would you like to work with for what puprose? I mean, I guess you have an idol, who you'd like to work with, some special film topic, or something similar.

The_J said:

unbelievable.
I'd really like to know why they didn't think of you .

...and next question:
What work related project are you dreaming off? What people would you like to work with for what puprose? I mean, I guess you have an idol, who you'd like to work with, some special film topic, or something similar.

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Hmm. Tough one, actually. I guess there are a lot of things that I'd want to do. I'll just start mouthing off here:

- write a musical with Tim Rice as my lyricist
- co-write some pop tunes, maybe with some producers like Stargate or Dr. Luke
- go on a world tour with Stereo Alchemy!
- write a ballet
- score a Planet Earth-type documentary

I'm sure there are other things, but honestly this list changes all the time. I'm always looking to try something different!

christophertin said:

I wasn't asked to participate in Civ V.

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So, hypothetically speaking, if you were asked to participate again (say in Civ6), do you think you would do something of a similar style to Babu Yetu, or would you go for something completely different?

I´ll just chime in to say that Baba Yetu is truly great piece of music and has become a definitive part of Civ experience for me. Count me among your fans, sir.

craig123 said:

So, hypothetically speaking, if you were asked to participate again (say in Civ6), do you think you would do something of a similar style to Babu Yetu, or would you go for something completely different?

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I'd do whatever they asked me to, and do it as well as I can!

They want goth metal? I'll do my best.

Rap? Yo yo yo, MC Tin in the house.

Sappy Diane-Warren love ballad?

.... well, everyone has their limits.

christophertin said:

I'd do whatever they asked me to, and do it as well as I can!

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So when you produced Baba Yetu for Civ4, what instructions did they give you? Did they ask for something in a foreign language, for example?

I'm also interested in this. How much guidance did you receive from the design team as to what they wanted from you for the opening title song?

Also, was "Baba Yetu" the only music you composed for the game, or did you also have a hand in any of the in-game music, or the score behind Nimoy's opening narration?

As far as your "mistake" goes with "Baba Yetu", I'm sorry you think of it as such. An emphasis on the "Our" (versus "Father") works better with the overall spirit of the game. It actually works better that way!

Yeekim said:

I´ll just chime in to say that Baba Yetu is truly great piece of music and has become a definitive part of Civ experience for me. Count me among your fans, sir.

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Why, thank you sir.

Not yet finished here .

My next question: Why did you try it with a combo? Last time you had all the responsibilities yourself, as well as all decision power (correct me if I'm wrong), why did you decide this time to share them? Just as part of the intention to do something new, or does it have more background?

Not so much a question, but a word of praise. The opening music of Civ 4 was always brilliant to me. I only realised that it was actually called "Baba Yetu" only recently (the last year or so after hanging out in the Civ 5 forum, before reverting back to Civ 4 development and giving up on Civ 5). The opening music brings tears to my eyes often as it makes it feel like "home" inside my "home".

I'd be interested to hear how much of a factor Civilization 4 played in the success of your music.
Personally I was stunned when I heard Baba Yetu for the first time. It was so unexpected to hear something so different from the usual game trailer music and it hooked me to world music for quite some time.

How does personally receiving a grammy ( one of which has itself broken a world record ) feel to you?

Oh...one other thing! One thing I love about the Baba Yetu chorus....sometimess when I'm picking my Civ leader I'll time switching between the various leaders with the completion of each line. It's amazing how well the animation timing works with this!

Greetings Christopher!

I am also a long-time fan of Baba Yetu, and I've always enjoyed classical crossover music.

Your Stereo Alchemy previews are excellent. I particularly like the first track (A Rapture) and God of Love. Who does the female vocals? I love her voice.

I have just ordered both of your CDs, and I certainly hope to own even more in the future!

Good luck to you!


Link to video.

craig123 said:

So when you produced Baba Yetu for Civ4, what instructions did they give you? Did they ask for something in a foreign language, for example?

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Soren Johnson and I were roommates at Stanford, and back then I was the music director of a choir that sang a lot of African gospel music. They had temped the main menu screen with a track that I produced--something with big African choir and drums--and they asked if I could do something similar. I picked the language (Swahili).

yturk39 said:

I'm also interested in this. How much guidance did you receive from the design team as to what they wanted from you for the opening title song?

Also, was "Baba Yetu" the only music you composed for the game, or did you also have a hand in any of the in-game music, or the score behind Nimoy's opening narration?

As far as your "mistake" goes with "Baba Yetu", I'm sorry you think of it as such. An emphasis on the "Our" (versus "Father") works better with the overall spirit of the game. It actually works better that way!

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Aside from the general instruction of something pan-Western/African/Orchestral, there was little guidance as to the actual song. Soren, being a good musician himself, had one note for me as I was writing it. He said "I think you should write a bridge". That was a great note, as the 'Ufalme walko' section was written after that note.

I also wrote the music for the opening movie... where you're zooming in from outer space, into the coronation scene. But that was it. What's funny is that after the GANG Awards and after the Hollywood Bowl premiere of the Video Games Live segment, suddenly I was a well known composer in gaming circles, and was hanging out with a lot of other great composers... but for years, those 6 minutes of music were pretty much all that I had ever written for games.

Even now after the Grammys, I'm a bit of an anomaly. I'm somewhat well-known amongst my fellow game composers, even though I'm probably the guy who has written the least game music among them. (But that fact is also partially to do with the fact that I split my time amongst a lot of other sectors of music... like releasing albums, for example... whereas a lot of my colleagues are a lot more dedicated to video games, so are naturally more prolific.)

The_J said:

Not yet finished here .

My next question: Why did you try it with a combo? Last time you had all the responsibilities yourself, as well as all decision power (correct me if I'm wrong), why did you decide this time to share them? Just as part of the intention to do something new, or does it have more background?

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I'm very much used to being the boss, and frankly that's a role that I relish. But in the pop world (where I'm tinkering these days), collaboration is a big thing. All pop songs have multiple writers--one guy writes the hook, another the bridge, some producer comes up with the beat and gets 15% writer's share, etc. Collaboration with other musicians is something that's new to me and not entirely natural for the way that I like to work, but is still something that I like to challenge myself with.

And besides, it's kinda fun working with someone else. With me and Kametron, we have very different skill sets, and very different backgrounds. Most of the time, if there's a creative decision to be made, one of us is naturally going to be the one more suited to answering it. And we've known each other for a long time, and work well together, so why not?