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Sunday, August 2, 2020

Song of the Week! 2 August 2020


So Lokamp has been out this Saturday due to technical issues with the computer, as also pointed out in our Discord server's news channel. Instead of leaving you guys hanging for too long, I'm gonna slip in with another part of the "unfinished Classical Series Showcase" I have mentioned the last time Lokamp was out.

 Rhapsody in Blue (ラプソディ・イン・ブルー)
Version
Allx5 (247)x7 (347)x8 (447)x8 (563)
 Taiko 11, DS 2, Wii 4, Wii U2, PS4
 55~160
 none


Also composed in 1924 like Fascinating Rhythm, Rhapsody in Blue is made for piano and orchestra, fusing classical music elements with more modern jazz influences. The song's contemporary urban ambience has been widely associated with New York's city landscape. The song has garnered so much critical acclaim and popular success since its debut in the 1924 concert An Experiment in Modern Music, it has been deemed that this is the quintessential work that kick-started Gershwin's fame and reputation. The 1945 (fictionalized) biopic on the composer, for instance, was directly named after this very tune.

One of the most famous uses of Rhapsody in Blue is perhaps a segment of the same name in the 1999 Disney animated feature Fantasia 2000, in which the title is taken literally with a mainly blue-tinted sketch, showing the crisscrossed lives of several inhabitants of New York City tapping right into the composition's vibrant rhythm.

As a trivia, Rhapsody in Blue was also used as an ending theme for the television drama adaptation of the classical music-themed manga Nodame Cantabile. The connotation is especially significant when the drama's opening theme, an excerpt from Symphony No. 7, just debuted in the Taiko franchise not too long ago in DS1 with Rhapsody in Blue following suit in just 10 months in AC11.

Rhapsody in Blue's notechart packed much more than the first Gershwin tune, and features more fulfilling rhythm patterns, flurry of clusters and long mixed streams that have been proven to be high-end 8★ fare, as seen from the rating not being cut even into Wii U2.

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We're not quite done for the day yet- not only the Mekadesu. and Taiko Drum Monster SotW entries got updated with their brand new Ura Oni, but Tanoshii Taiko Dojo was also added to our General Medleys song series showcase. By all means, check them out!