LONG BLOG
Phils Game/Pop Music Similarities #262 - Olé Gonzales
Featuring Chrono Trigger and latin music.
Greetings fellow game music lovers,
and once more we return to Chrono Trigger (1995) to one of the few remaining major songs that we didn't have a look at in the video: Gato (japanese: Gonzales), the robot that you can fight on the Millennial Fair to obtain Silver Points which you can exchange for gold (or wager for prizes in Norstein Bekklers lab which is generally preferrable). He has become somewhat of a breakout character due to his catchy tune and recognizable design.
They also created a promotional OVA in 1996 where he is one of the central characters.
So, let's have a look at his song and find out what it might have been inspired by:
I suspect that the music is basically a sequence of variations based on the first five note jingle that appears surprisingly often in latin music. Some examples:
El Combo Moderno - "Casabe Con Longanizo" (1967):
Johnny Ventura - "La Piragua" (1971):
Joe Madrid - "Mango Del Monte" (1971):
Pachito E Che - "Orquesta El Sabor De Nacho" (1974):
I suspect that the sequence may originally have come from Blues although I lack a perfect sample for this at the moment:
Alberta Hunter - "Now I'm Satisfied" (1961):
Peppermint Harris - "Raining In My Heart" (1950):
Of course, there are still other famous Nintendo franchises to look into - next week!
Phil out.