Drama

• “Starfield” is one of the most anticipated video games in recent history.
• Soundtracks for outer space have appeared in many films – “Star Wars,” “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Interstellar,” to name a few.
• As a conductor, musician and educator, I’m excited about games like “Starfield” because they’re drawing people to symphonic music like never before.

Classical music becomes exclusive

• During the time of the Renaissance, around the middle 15th to 16th centuries, there was a shift from music as function to music as art and entertainment.
• Soon, live vocal and instrumental music became a form of popular entertainment, and people clamored for bigger and better sounds.
• A clear divide between popular music and what became known as “classical” music emerged.
• Many argue that the classical music world is no longer accessible to most people – it’s seen as too intimidating and too stuffy, with works that are too long and tickets that are too expensive.

From ‘bleeps and bloops’ to symphonic music

• In a 2021 interview, video game composer and conductor Eimear Noone said, “More young people listen to orchestral music through their game consoles today than have ever listened to orchestral music in the history of music.” She’s probably right.
• There are over 3 billion gamers around the world, and people between the ages of 18 and 25 spend the most time playing video games.
• A 2018 poll conducted by the U.K.‘s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra found that more young people are exposed to classical music through video games than through attending live performances.
• “Thanks to video games,” Boston Globe music writer A.Z.

Getting the recognition it deserves

• Today’s video game music is more interactive and nonlinear than traditional concert hall and film music.
• Like “Starfield,” many modern game titles incorporate symphonic music needed to provide the emotional and atmospheric underpinning of the game experience.
• In 2023, the Grammys recognized “Best Video Game Soundtrack” as an official category for the first time.
• Video game music has come a long way from its first “bleeps and bloops.” Symphonic music will continue to accompany players’ video game journeys, and like “Starfield,” the sky is no longer the limit.

• From August 28th to September 2nd, the 18th China Changchun Film Festival (CCFF) （ https://www.chinaccff.com ）were held in Changchun, the city of the “Cradle of Chinese Cinema”, where guests gathered to recount the legend of cinema.
• This year’s Festival, putting people at the center, is tasked with serving of the film industry in an aim to empower Changchun’s cultural industry ...
• As the first film festival named after a city in China, CCFF was born, sprouted and flourished under the profound cultural accumulation of Changchun Film Studio.
• Sun Yiming, who finished watching 12 Angry Men: The Great Judgment at the Changchun Film Studio Cinema, said, “Every film festival is like celebrating a traditional festival for us.

• LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Cineverse Corp. (NASDAQ: CNVS), a global streaming technology and entertainment company with one of the world's largest portfolios of streaming channels and content libraries, has entered into a new partnership with Maverick Entertainment Group, an independent channel in the US VOD/FAST space offering the best in Black indie cinema, to launch a new VOD channel - Maverick Black Cinema on its flagship streaming service .
• The deal is a direct reflection of Cineverse's mission to be a curated streaming home for independent film and filmmakers.
• In fact, the Maverick brand, whether its channel or VOD content, is showcased across many of the industry leaders in the space including Samsung TV Plus, Tivo, Pluto TV, Freevee, Sling, and Peacock.
• Maverick Black Cinema will utilize Cineverse's proprietary Matchpoint technology to provide content recommendations based on real-time feedback from viewers.

• Known affectionately in her home city of Cape Town as “Mama Kaap”, Mdunyelwa passed away on 25 August at the age of 74.
• As a researcher who documents historical and current South African jazz and popular music, I believe Mdunyelwa merits recognition not only for the regard she won from fellow players, but also for her activism as a community music educator and advocate for South African jazz.

Who was Sylvia Mdunyelwa?

• Her uncle, Aspro Sipoyo, led the close-harmony vocal group The Semitones and her sister was a jazz singer.
• Family gatherings sounded loud with religious songs; Fitzgerald, Vaughan and another US jazz vocalist, Carmen McRae, were all regulars on the record player.
• Singing along, the young Nce became a singer even before she had articulated the ambition to be one.
• Tours followed, including to the Berlin Jazz Festival and to Colombia in Latin America (where she was awarded for her community work in Cape Town).

Albums

• Mdunyelwa released two albums, the 1998 African Diva, recorded live at the National Arts Festival in Makhanda (then Grahamstown), and the 2000 studio recording Ingoma, on the international Blue Note jazz label.
• She served on her local street committee in Langa, and composed the impassioned anthem Where are the Children Now?
• to draw attention to the situation of Cape Town’s young people, caught in the crossfire of poverty, family insecurity and crime.

Legacy

• But there was always a compelling subtext of respect for Xhosa culture, the isiXhosa language and that community’s musicality.
• She created new isiXhosa lyrics for the US jazz standard Stormy Weather, which became a favourite with her audiences.
• She left a tangible legacy in the skills of younger musicians she inspired and mentored.
• Nevertheless, I hope she receives multiple official tributes, accompanied by concrete support to ensure her legacy as a guardian of and activist-educator about the South African jazz tradition, however belated it all may now be.