Nobuo Uematsu

Written in 2005

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Since Final Fantasy turned out to be a success, it's not certain whether Uematsu helped FF to be famous, or FF helped Uematsu to be famous. Either way, many Final Fantasy games got their own flair mainly because the music was made by him.

Uematsu's skill is stunning. His variety of styles begins with classical Opera, orchestrated themes which even symphonical Orchestras play around the world and ends with hard Metal and upbeat battle themes. Legendary tunes like "Draco and Maria", "Aerith no theme" and "you're not alone" have been created by him.

Mr. Uematsu, surprisingly enough, did not study Music at university or such. After graduating, he joined some amateur bands as a keyboarder. From that point on, he discovered how much he loved music. He then worked for a radio station some time.

In 1985, a friend of him working at a almost bankrupt video game company called Squaresoft asked Uematsu if he wants to create the music for the last game the company will create. Nobuo agreed, and the result was the Final Fantasy soundtrack.

I first met Mr. Uematsu at the Games Convention 2003, where he signed an autograph for me. As you can see on various concerts and interviews, he is a very kind and sympathetic man without even a glimpse of arrogance. At the Black Mages concert, despite his popularity he was just a keyboarder in the background and left the show part to other musicians there.

He is probably the most renown japanese video game musician. At the Games Convention 2004 concert, he finally received what he deserves: Standing ovations in a big european concert hall.

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