|
The Black Mages was a Japanese instrumental rock/hard rock band formed in 2002 by Nobuo Uematsu, Kenichiro Fukui and Tsuyoshi Sekito - three composers for Square Enix. The band arranged Uematsu's ''Final Fantasy'' video game series-based compositions in a hard rock style often similar to progressive metal, achieved with the additional use of synthesizers.〔 Since its inception, the band had expanded to six members with the addition of Keiji Kawamori, Michio Okamiya and Arata Hanyuda. On August 7, 2010, Nobuo Uematsu announced the band had disbanded, but he would continue to perform rock arrangements of his music as a part of another band, the Earthbound Papas. The band has released three studio albums. Their first was released eponymously as ''The Black Mages'' in 2003, and contained arrangements of ''Final Fantasy'' battle themes. The second album, ''The Black Mages II: The Skies Above'', was released in 2004 and featured additional pieces besides battle themes including the group's first original song, "Blue Blast ~Winning the Rainbow", which was created for Japanese K-1 fighter Takehiro Murahama. The third album, ''The Black Mages III: Darkness and Starlight'', was released on March 19, 2008. Music from the group has also appeared in other albums, including one track in ''Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange'', an album of arranged music from the video game ''Dark Chronicle'', a piece in the animated film ''Final Fantasy VII Advent Children'' and its corresponding soundtrack album, and one track on ''Final Fantasy III Original Soundtrack'', the soundtrack album for the Nintendo DS version of ''Final Fantasy III''. The Black Mages did not tour as a band, but performed several concerts to promote their album releases. For their first album they performed in Shibuya and Kanagawa, Japan in 2003 and later released a live video of the first concert on DVD exclusively to Uematsu fanclub members. They repeated this for the release of their second album, performing in Kawasaki and Osaka, Japan in 2005 and similarly released on DVD to fanclub members. The third album saw a performance in Yokohama, Japan in 2008; a DVD of the show was released commercially on March 25, 2009. In addition to these concerts, The Black Mages made live appearances at two ''Final Fantasy'' concerts, More Friends: Music from Final Fantasy and Voices - Music from Final Fantasy, as well as another video game music event, Extra: Hyper Game Music Event 2007. == History == In 2000, Square Enix employees Kenichiro Fukui and Tsuyoshi Sekito formed an experimental partnership to compose music for the video game ''All Star Pro-Wrestling'' in a rock style. After the game's success, the two continued to compose in the same style. In 2002, Fukui and Sekito decided to arrange some of the compositions of Nobuo Uematsu, the primary composer for the music of the ''Final Fantasy'' series. Uematsu, a fan of rock music, enjoyed these arrangements, and Fukui and Sekito asked him to join them in making a rock band. Declining at first due to feeling too busy with his composing duties and attempts to become a music producer with his Smile Please label, Uematsu agreed to join them in a single live performance as a keyboardist. At the performance, Uematsu felt a "mix of stage fright and excitement, () all the crowds cheering, the audience paying full attention", and decided to join the two in making a band; Fukui and Sekito had refused to start one if Uematsu was not involved as one of the musicians.〔〔 The group has said they were "nervous" about forming a rock band, as they were all "middle-aged", but decided after the performance it would not be a problem. The name "The Black Mages" was chosen by an employee at Square Enix, Mr. Matsushita, and was decided to be in English because it "wouldn't stand out" in Japanese.〔 Square Enix owns the name "The Black Mages", which means while using that name the band was essentially limited to playing ''Final Fantasy'' music and original pieces rather than arranging music from other game series that were not owned by the company.〔 In 2003, Uematsu decided the band should produce an album of ''Final Fantasy'' arrangements.〔 The trio arranged, interpreted, and sequenced ten battle themes from various ''Final Fantasy'' titles, with Uematsu as producer; the album was released eponymously on February 19, 2003. To celebrate the success, Uematsu decided to organize a concert in tribute to the album; Uematsu and Fukui served as the keyboardists, while Sekito was the guitarist. They needed more people to perform the arrangements live, however, and as such, several other members from Square Enix joined. Keiji Kawamori joined to play the bass guitar, Michio Okamiya to play the guitar, and Arata Hanyuda to play the drums.〔 Since then, The Black Mages have released two additional albums, with all six members participating. The group performed concerts to promote both of these albums, and also participated in video game music-themed concerts. On August 7, 2010, Uematsu announced the band had formally disbanded. He did not directly state the reason for the decision, though in previous interviews he had noted the band was increasingly finding it difficult to find time to rehearse together. In an April 2011 interview he said the main reason was because The Black Mages had been formed as a "Square Enix" band, they were unable to perform arrangements of work he had composed after leaving Square Enix or to focus on original pieces. Uematsu continues to play rock arrangements of his music as a part of the band the Earthbound Papas, which performed at the Distant Worlds II concert in 2010. He has been joined by fellow Black Mages band-mates Michio Okamiya and Arata Hanyuda, both continuing on guitar and drums, respectively. They had also left Square Enix; Uematsu built the new band to not include any current Square Enix employees so as to avoid the trademark and licensing problems of The Black Mages.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Black Mages」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|