YeinJee's Asian blog

Asian Culture, Lifestyle and Entertainment

Christopher Tin

Civilization VI video game trailer

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Launch trailer for video game Civilization VI, released on Windows last week. It’s the latest edition of the Civilization franchise, a series of turn-based strategy video games started in 1991.

Civilization II was one of the first PC games I played and I still like the series a lot. Besides its entertainment value, it’s also an educational game that I can recommend to my young nephews and nieces.

Gaming is always a tricky thing in parenthood. However, this is a game that I can safely introduce to parents (for their kids) because the knowledge part outweigh most of the probable negative issues. Good or bad we can’t stop children from playing video games these days, may as well find the right ones instead.

Players can learn about the basics of growing a civilisation, city and nation from the game. And if the player is willing to do some reading from the in-game “civilopedia”, they can learn quite a bit about global history and development at various points from 4000 B.C. to modern days.

I only played until Civilization IV though, didn’t get the fifth edition and no intention to get the new one. Although there are new stuff and improvements, the fundamental gameplay seems about the same.

The trailer is cool regardless, the franchise is also good at making these teasers and opening sequences. Actor Sean Bean provided the narration in the video, his voice will also feature in the game. Music by Christopher Tin who won a Grammy with the Civilization IV theme song in 2011.

Christopher Tin – Mado Kara Mieru Japanese music video

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Lyric video (with English translations) for Mado Kara Mieru, from Christopher Tin’s two-time Grammy winning album Calling All Dawns. Sung in Japanese, the song is a setting of five haiku – a form of short Japanese poem – about the seasons: spring, summer, autumn, winter, and again spring.

The song also represents the cycle of life: youth, old age, death, and then rebirth again. And each verse features a different singer in a different stage of their life: a child, a young woman, an older woman, a chorus of old men, and a child. The female singers are Lia, Aoi Tada, and Kaori Omura.

Christopher Tin is an American composer. The 35-year-old was born in California, while his parents are immigrants from Hong Kong. His choral piece Baba Yetu – also a song from the Calling All Dawns album – became the first piece of video game music ever to win a Grammy Award in 2011.

It’s also noteworthy that all 12 songs in the album are sung in different languages. He also used appropriate vocal traditions in each song, such as African gospel, Beijing opera, and medieval chants.

Baba Yetu becomes first video game song to win a Grammy

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Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin became the first piece of video game music to win a Grammy Award. It’s the theme song for the 2005 video game Civilization IV, and a re-release version was announced last week as the winner in the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) category.

Check the music video below which uses footage from the popular video game. You can also check the song which featured at the Dubai Fountain in one of my old posts from 2009.

Baba Yetu means Our Father in Swahili, a main language in East Africa. The lyrics, also in Swahili, are a translation of the Lord’s Prayer, a venerated Christian prayer.

Ron Ragin and the Stanford Talisman performed the original song in the game. The Soweto Gospel Choir performed the re-release in Tin’s 2009 album Calling All Dawns instead; and it’s the later version that won the Grammy. Tin also won the Best Classical Crossover Album award, congrats.

Over the years game makers have produced some good music and stories etc. but never got much credit in mainstream entertainment awards. This win is a milestone, but I’m not sure if things will change in near future; video games music will remain a niche on its own.

The Dubai Fountain – Baba Yetu by Christopher Tin

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Awesome video of The Dubai Fountain – the world’s largest water feature – with Christopher Tin’s Baba Yetu as background music. It’s a beautiful show.

The Dubai Fountain – the world’s largest choreographed fountain system – is set on the man-made Burj Khalifa Lake at the centre of Downtown Dubai. Bet it’s going to become a popular tourist attraction.

The designer is a Californian company also responsible for the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel Lake in Las Vegas. The Bellagio fountains were the largest of its kind until the completion of the Dubai Fountain.

Meanwhile, Christopher Tin is an Asian American composer. He released the Calling All Dawns album last month, and Baba Yetu is one of the 12 contemporary pieces. An old version of Baba Yetu is also a theme song for the Civilization video game back in 2005.

Baba Yetu means Our Father in Swahili, a language from East Africa. The lyrics are direct translations of the Lord’s Prayer, a famous Christian prayer. Not sure if the host (of the Dubai Fountain) realised about the fact; or perhaps the Muslim country is actually pretty liberal about religious stuff.