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JAGMO is an orchestra that plays symphonic arrangements of music from popular Japanese video games. Rather than simply playing game music in an orchestra style, the members are specialists in game music performance who give new life and interpretations to the pieces through a musical approach also used with classical music.
Recently, JAGMO has been actively holding concerts in Japan and are reportedly also hoping to eventually perform overseas as well. In this interview conducted right before their June concert, we spoke with JAGMO producer Tadakaz Mishiya about the group’s activities and vision for the future as well as his thoughts regarding game music.
[JAGMO Profile]
The world’s first orchestra specializing in game music. Formed in 2014. The group aims to make game music a part of culture and give it its place in music history, and also puts effort into cultivating professional performers specializing in game music. In June, August and October of this year, the group is putting on “The Legend of RPG Collection,” a series of concerts featuring music from Japanese games, such as Final Fantasy and Pokémon.
──First, please tell us what led up to the creation of JAGMO.
The predecessor to JAGMO was the Japan BGM Philharmonic Orchestra, Japan’s first professional orchestra specializing in game music which was formed in 2012. The performances then weren’t doing well at the time and it was millions of yen in debt, and I got an order from someone up top saying, “I want you to pull through and produce a performance in March 2014.” If I didn’t accept, the orchestra would be disbanded, and the concertmaster was an acquaintance of mine, so I accepted.
──That performance was a success.
Yes. The business end of the orchestra turned around after that. I had been told before the performance that I could keep producing if it went well, so because I was a fan of game music myself and I could see a lot of potential in doing a game music orchestra, I formed JAGMO as the progression of the BGM Philharmonic.
──Where exactly did you see potential in doing a game music orchestra?
The fact that it’s music that is part of Japanese culture. I foresaw that bringing together classical music, which was cultivated in other countries, and game music, which was fostered as a part of Japanese culture, would create a major chemical reaction. There was risk as well, but, more than that, I felt its great appeal.
──You mentioned you like game music. Could you give us three of your favorite games?
Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger!
──That was quick. [laughs]
[laughs] The setlist for our June concert (The Legend of RPG Collection) also includes songs from each of them [Editor’s note: opens June 1].
──I’ve heard that there are members who were game fans to begin with as well.
Yes, there are many. For example, there’s someone who has played about 3,000 hours worth of Monster Hunter and someone who has played through Chrono Trigger 10 or 20 times. There is someone who has spent weeks and months trying to get a Pokémon they had their eye on. [laughs]
──They’re full-on game otaku.
Yes, our orchestra is filled with game otaku. It’s because they know the world of the games so well that they can bring out such a special sound. For example, in the Pokémon medley we’re doing, we begin by playing a song called “Route 1.” That song is the first piece of music that plays when the player steps out of Pallet Town 1. That music plays during a scene that’s mixed with expectation and anxiousness as the character leaves home on his first adventure. The people we have gathered will put that detailed breakdown, story and background into sound.
──Next, would you be able to tell us about JAGMO’s musical activities? Are there any struggles to doing video game music?
Game music was originally electronic music played by a computer, so there are a lot of times where it uses difficult notes that a person couldn’t play. People call it the “Transcendental Études,” but I think the challenge of playing notes with such high difficulty is part of the appeal of game music. In order to play these difficult notes, there are members of the orchestra from the top music school in Japan. I’d like to cultivate their skills and eventually build the group into the world’s best game music symphony orchestra.
──You have high goals for the orchestra.
JAGMO’s vision is to make game music a part of culture and give it its place in music history. In the future, I’d like to keep working to bring about things like instructional books on playing game music and schools dedicated to game music. In order to accomplish that, I think we need to not just produce something for consumers, but to have each performer put their life into it and make music that stirs the souls of the listeners. Even now, we’re all in the process of making that kind of music for the June concert.
──Tickets for JAGMO’s concerts always sell out. It’s extraordinary for a orchestra concert in Japan to be full.
Thank you. Even the top orchestras in Japan struggle to bring in audiences on a scale of hundreds or thousands of people. Some of Japan’s top performers came to listen to us and were surprised, saying, “Concerts in Japan are never that packed.” We’ve had a lot of media coverage, such as with this interview, and I see the attention we receive increase day by day.
──It appears you’re being talked about quite a bit on the Internet as well.
There were a lot of positive tweets about our previous performance on Twitter as well. People who heard JAGMO perform said things like, “The tears started flowing just half-way through (the concert),” and, “The song from Chrono Trigger was amazing!” Even off the Internet, I could see people crying with scrunched up faces and red noses in the audience, and I realized that the performance was resonating with a lot of different people.
──Is there any particular challenge you feel you would like to take on in the future?
Yes. We perform game music. However, I’d like for us to be an orchestra that even people who aren’t familiar with video games will listen to. In order for that to happen, we need completely new techniques and arrangements. I’d like to try mixing two songs that we currently do separately or fuse classical techniques with game music and do variations 2 using various instruments. For example, I’d like to mix the “Golbez” 3 and “Big Bridge” 4 themes and bring out even more of what makes these pieces great. For that we need an excellent arranger and performers who really understand video game music, so we will have to expand the orchestra beyond where it is now.
──It sounds difficult just hearing you talk about it.
It’s very difficult. [laughs] But if we just reproduce things from the past, it wouldn’t be any different from the classical music that already exists. In order to reach more listeners, I think we have to expand the world of game music and keep doing things to get support from our current audience.
──Are performances overseas also on the horizon?
Yes. I would like to do concerts overseas. I think game music goes well with music from abroad. There’s already game music that incorporates electric guitars and symphonies, but I’d like to bring forth Japanese technical elements and take on something new where people will say, “You can’t find this anywhere else.”
──If you do begin to play overseas, in what countries would you like to play?
First would be countries in Europe. I’d also like to make it into something that would do well in America, and of course I’d like to do Asia. Basically, every country. [laughs] I’d like to circle the world and do performances! We’ll fly to anywhere we’re called!
──Finally, could you give a message for our readers?
We will definitely go out in the world, so I hope you wait for us. We will visit you with music that only Japan’s JAGMO can produce. We’re still a fledgeling orchestra, but because of that, we’re going to continue to grow. And we are certain to become the world’s greatest game symphony orchestra!
^1^ A town in the Pokémon video game series that is where the game begins.
^2^ A single piece of music where a primary melody is played first, and then arrangements to that melody are played.
^3^ Background music from a popular RPG in Japan called Final Fantasy IV. The official title is “Battle with the Four Fiends.” It’s a heroic piece played during a boss battle and is very popular among fans.
^4^ Background music from a popular RPG in Japan called Final Fantasy V. The official title is “Clash on the Big Bridge.” It’s a cool and rhythmical song and is well-known enough to be counted as a representative example of video game music in Japan.
This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.
