Arrangement of the Week: Dark World (Mariachi Cover)

During my searches for arrangements for this series, I occasionally find myself looking for some unusual things. Recently I decided to see if anyone had done a mariachi cover of some game music. Not only did I find a cover, I found a group that has done a number of mariachi arrangements of game tunes. They are known as Mariachi Entertainment System.

Of the handful of game tunes that the group has covered, today’s Arrangement of the Week is featuring their cover of “Dark World” from The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past.

After the band members take shots of toquilla, a running gag in their videos, the piece opens with trumpets, guitar, vihuela, flute, and guitarron for the familiar intro of the overworld theme. Each performer for the arrangement then gets introduced as they play their parts. The flute, trumpet, and violin players take turns with the melodic material for the duration of the piece, while the guitar, vihuela, and guitarron provide the rhythmic accompaniment.

The arrangement itself is relatively straight forward, without any dramatic structural or melodic changes made for the performance. The source material works quite well with the instrument ensemble and each member of the group delivers a solid performance. The flute, which doesn’t traditionally perform with mariachi ensembles, adds some extra tone color to the arrangement that works well for this particular piece. Overall, an excellent cover of the classic Zelda overworld theme from a talented group of musicians.

Have you heard any interesting ensembles covering game music this week? Let us know in the comments below. You can check out more of Mariachi Entertainment System’s game music covers on their YouTube channel and you can also support them on Patreon.