The song of storms is part of the amazing Soundtrack composed by Kōji Kondō for the video game “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time” in which we will take the role of Link who will try to save the kingdom of Hyrule from the hands of Ganondorf, being the Ocarina is one of the main tools of the game, since we will have to learn melodies that when played with this instrument we will be able to advance in our adventure.
The interesting thing about this work is in the first place the context in which it appears, since it is learned from “Guru-guru” in the Kakariko village mill, this occurs when Link is an adult, Gurur-guru comments that he learned it from a boy dressed like Link, 7 years ago. Later in the game we have to travel to the past 7 years and as a child teach the same song to Guru-guru, creating a “Bootstrap paradox” which is an infinite loop.
To the rhythm of Walz (3/4), the first part of the harmony of this work is a Doric mode of D (D - E - F - G - A - B - C) and sets it very well with the following progression of chords as an introduction:
Dm | Em | F | Em | x2
And it is that the characteristic note of the Doric mode is the 6 major present in the scale (in this case the note “B”) and we see it forming part of the “Em” chord (E - G - B), once this Loudness enters the melody and the accompaniment continues as follows:
Dm | Em | F | Em | Bb | F | Bb | Am |
And it is fabulous how Kōji after submerging ourselves in a Doric storm uses a “Bb” chord that is part of the harmony of the Aeolian mode (it could also be seen as part of the minor harmony) of D to give us a new atmosphere for 4 measures and then return to Doric mode. As we know in video games, music is an infinite loop and that is where we find ourselves with the surprise that it is musically representing that Bootstrap Paradox, making us live this modal loop between Doric and Aeolian forever. Genius!
To finish I will mention that thanks to another great video game of Zelda “Majora’s mask” we will find the origin of the melody, which was created by “Bemol” to be played by his brother “Sustained”:
“If you ever meet my brother, I would like you to tell him … The thousand raindrops summoned by my song are my tears. The thunder that hits the earth is my fury.”
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Social Media Author: Pablo Bobadilla Rider
