I enjoyed playing video games when I was growing up. For me, the music was always a huge factor in what made a game worthwhile to play. Even using the crude instrument synthesizers of the original Nintendo Entertainment System, video game music managed to capture and inspire my imagination. To this day, the melodies from my favourite childhood games are still buried somewhere at the back of my memory, occasionally getting dredged up.

That’s why I was excited to hear about a special concert touring through Calgary this November 6th, which was centred around the music of the Legend of Zelda game series.

The producer of the show, Jason Michael Paul, spoke to GayCalgary Magazine from San Francisco earlier this month. I asked him, why Legend of Zelda?

"It’s been an enduring series spanning over 26 years now, with over 10 games being released. ...In my experience, I’ve worked with Final Fantasy and other franchises. I just think the fan base for this one is far reaching. Everywhere from the newest release, Skyward Sword, the younger generation to people my age, 35 years old, I pretty much grew up with the game."

I asked him more about the concert – what games we can expect to hear music from, how the music has been adapted, and what the audience can expect to experience at this event.

"The music we feature as part of the Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses spans all the way up to the beginning. The only thing we don’t have as part of this concert is Skyward Sword. ... We’ve given it a Hollywood treatment; made what was bips and bleeps into a fully orchestrated, fully symphonic rendition of this music that we pretty much grew up with. We have a 66 piece orchestra, a 24 voice choir, and a huge 18x32 foot crane that’s suspended above the orchestra and we have the visual accompaniments perfectly in synch with the music."

I often felt like I was alone and out of the ordinary for holding video game music so near and dear to my heart. But Jason staunchly disagreed that video game music goes by unnoticed.

"The people I deal with, the music is always front and centre with the games that they play. Obviously some of the older titles...the technology wasn’t really there. But now with the newer titles...they’re being recorded by full orchestras. Slowly but surely the music is taking more of a spotlight in the creation of a good game."

His company, Jason Michael Paul Productions, has produced many other video game related concerts.

"I have another touring show. I actually just did about 4 shows at the Jack Singer Concert Hall with the Calgary Philharmonic for my other production called Play: A Video Game Symphony. That features a catalog of music from a catalog of blockbuster video games, along with the visuals."

In trying to branch out to other blockbuster game franchises, Jason has occasionally encountered roadblocks to producing their music.

"Truth be told, I just couldn’t really deal with the politics of working with [one particular] company. I love the creators of the games themselves but just the upper management was very difficult to deal with. In trying to realize the concept, it seemed like it was more trouble than it was worth."

He sees this as a terrible loss to fans, and a missed opportunity for video game companies.

"...My business is a very unique business, and if you don’t have people that truly understand, it just doesn’t work. You have to have a deeper understanding than just video games. For that matter, they also have to have a deeper appreciation of the music and how it can really move and sell video games. A lot of these video game companies are so focused on creating video games that they lose sight of what the music potentially means as a whole other business for these video games. It’s more or less just an afterthought."

That’s unfortunate, because Jason agrees that it is rare to find a game or series with a broad enough appeal to make a concert feasible. I asked him what other possibilities are out there for future shows.

" Zelda would be is one of them, and Final Fantasy. Those two franchises along with a couple of others, I think, have the potential to have a concert devoted to them. Not very many though, I have to admit. ...I think the Elder Scroll series could potentially have a concert devoted to it. ...along with Dragon Quest, another franchise that wasn’t as popular here in the US, but is wildly popular in Japan. There’s also Castlevania..."

With only one tour date coming up fast in Calgary, he hopes Zelda fans are paying attention to the promotions for the show.

"I truly hope I don’t get emails after the concert that, I didn’t know this concert was coming to Calgary, how could I have missed it? That has always been my biggest frustration when I do these shows, when I get those emails after the fact. I just hope that people have the opportunity to come to the show – don’t miss it, don’t sleep, get your ticket, make sure you come, be ready to be entertained."

"This is by far the best production I’ve ever created. You don’t necessarily need to be a Legend of Zelda fan to appreciate what it is that we’ve done. I think it’s just an appreciation for pop culture, music in general, symphony concerts. I just think it’s a wonderful presentation."