Original Rayman Composer Working on Live Arrangement Project

One of the classic yet frequently overlooked soundtracks of the early CD era of consoles has to be Rayman. The music is just as vivid and clever as the imagery and gameplay it accompanies. There’s also a ton of it with nearly 50 tracks that touch on jazz, rock, new age and atmospheric soundscapes all with a playful arrangement of piano, synth and percussion.

Rémi Gazel, one of the lead composers of the original fifteen-person music team, is now putting together a live performance project called Rayman 1 Music. Since February he’s been posting meetings, rehearsals and clips on the project’s site as things have progressed. Back in April a live session was recorded to produce a four-track EP which seems to have solidified their efforts. Though the album hasn’t been released yet, work continues on expanding the setlist and incorporating a visual component to mimic the levels in the game. For now we’ll have to settle for the tantalizing montage above and the few clips that Gazel has posted to this YouTube playlist.

News has quieted down since April but fans continue to gravitate towards the project as word spreads. I didn’t know a thing about it until just this week when I caught an interview with Gazel at Ongaku Concept. It’s a good read and I’m especially appreciative of Josh’s work for turning me onto the Rayman 1 Music project. You can keep up with the project at Gazel’s official site or on facebook and hopefully we’ll get to see and hear much more soon.