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Alternative names for the British (people from the United Kingdom) include nicknames and terms, including affectionate ones, neutral ones, and derogatory ones to describe the British people and more specifically English, Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish people.

Alternative Names for British[link]

Ang Moh[link]

"Ang Moh" is a term to describe British and other Western nationalities in Malaysia and Singapore. It originates from the Hokkien dialect language referring to the "red hair" British military based in the Straits Settlements after the Second World War.

Limey[link]

Limey is a Caribbean and North American slang nickname for British people, originally referring to British sailors and seamen. This term is believed to derive from lime-juicer, referring to the Royal Navy and British Merchant Navy practice of supplying rations of lime juice to British sailors to prevent scurvy. The term "Limey" is thought to have originated in the Caribbean in the 1880s.

An alternate explanation comes from the Limes Britannicus, which was the northern most border of the Roman Empire dividing Scotland and England but it is unlikely that this term was well known in the Caribbean and North America at the time this nickname arose.

A certainly false etymology is that "Limey" is a derivative of the phrase "Cor blimey" ("God blind me!").

Pommy[link]

The term pommy, pom or pomme,^[1] in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, commonly denotes a person of British heritage origin. The term Pommie therefore does not relate exclusively to England; it applies equally to those from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. It is a term often confused by Australians who have difficulty in noting the synonymity of the four UK nations. A likely^{[citation needed]} explanation is 'Prisoner of the Mother Country'. A derogatory term, it was controversially ruled no longer offensive in 2006 by the Australian Advertising Standards Board and in 2010 by the New Zealand Broadcasting Standards Authority.^[2] Despite these changing views, many British people or those of British origin consider the expression offensive or racist when used by people not of British origin to describe English or British people, yet acceptable when used within that community: for example, the community group British People Against Racial Discrimination was among those who complained to the Advertising Standards Board about five advertisements poking fun at "Poms", prompting the 2006 decision.^[3]

The generally accepted origin of the term is that it comes from the abbreviation P.O.M.E (Prisoner of mother England) in reference to the fact that most English immigrants to Australia at times contemporary to the term's adoption were convicts. Another unofficial explaination is that P.O.M. stands for 'Prisoner of Millbank' or that P.O.H.M.E. stands for 'Prisoner of Her Majesty's Exile'. However, the OED states that there is no evidence for these terms or abbreviations being used and that they are an unlikely source. Historian Richard Holt maintains the origin of the term comes from English cricket tours of Australia where the English gentlemen amateurs would drink Pommery Champagne in preference to Australian beer.^[4]

Rosbif/Rosbeef[link]

Today, the French enjoy calling the English Rosbifs (French pronunciation: [ʁɔsbif]) due to their tendency to turn bright red from over-exposure to the hot French sun—particularly when holidaying in the warmer climate of Southern France. But the original explanation of this French term is that rosbif referred to the English style of cooking roast beef, and especially to the song The Roast Beef of Old England.^[5] In Portugal, the term bife (literally meaning steak, but sounding like beef) is used as a slang term to refer to the British. There is a feminine form, bifa, mainly used to refer to British female tourists.

Rooinek, Khaki, Soutie[link]

In South Africa the term 'Pom' may also be used, while Afrikaans speakers use the term rooinek (literally 'red neck', another reference to sunburning).^[6]

During the Second Boer War, they became known as Khakis, in reference to the colour of their uniforms - which, by then, was no longer the red coats so unsuitable to the South African climate.

Another common term in South Africa used mostly by the Afrikaans is Soutie or Sout Piel. This is from the concept that the Brits have one leg in Britain and one leg in South Africa, leaving the penis hanging in the salt water. Sout Piel means Salt Penis (or rather "dick"). However, this term refers more specifically to British people who have settled in South Africa, as they are more likely to be imagined as having one foot in each country than a Briton who is simply visiting as a tourist.^{[citation needed]}

Island Apes[link]

A pejorative German name for the British is Inselaffen, which means 'island apes' or 'island monkeys.^{[7] [8]}

Britisher, Angrez, Angrej, Ingraj, Anggrit, Firang, Sayip, Engilisi[link]

The term Britisher is still used in India, and to a lesser extent in the United States, but is largely obsolete elsewhere, mainly being replaced by the term Briton.^{[citation needed]} Brit is increasingly used both as a noun and an adjective in the US and elsewhere (as well as in Britain itself), and is an apparent contraction of Britisher or Briton (cf Britpop). Angrez, Angrej, Ingraj, Anggrit are versions of French word Anglais meaning Englishman.

Ingraj is used in Maharashtra (Marathi) and West Bengal (Bengali) region of India to refer to British people.

Engrez is of Slavic origin and is sometimes used to refer to British people.

"Engilisi" is of Persian origin.

Among South Asians, Angrez has the same meaning, although its more specific meaning is Englishman, with Angrezan for an English woman. This is mostly seen as an ethnic, rather than a territorial, term and applied specifically for people of Anglo-Saxon origin. So people of South Asian origin living in England do not usually refer to themselves as Angrez or Angrezan. Replacing the z with j and j with z is common practice especially amongst people from India, particularly Indian Punjab; hence it would be "Angrej" (masculine) and "Angrejan" (female). Pakistanis and especially Urdu speakers always pronounce z and j correctly.

The word Firangi, when broken down, (Fi-Rangi) literally means "Other Colour". Although this term is the most commonly used word used by Indians for anybody from another country or another colour, this term has never been challenged as 'Racially Abusive' or Offensive. It is also widely used in its shortened form, "Firang".

The adjective Gora (Gori for females) is also commonly used amongst South Asians and South Asian British to refer to white Britons, although the term literally translates to "fair-skinned one", and thus could and is applied to individuals of any ethnicity with a fair complexion including south Asians themselves. The adjective has also been used as a noun to describe white people—hence its potential as a racial slur.

Indian Punjabis use the term Englandi for any other citizen of England, including Asian British people, regardless of that person's ancestral ethnicity.

Malayalis of Kerala use the term Sayyip to refer to a male westerner. The feminine equivalent is Madaamma.

In Thai, the word anggrit (อังกฤษ) is used to described both the English in particular, and the British in general. The terms Scotland and Scot are also used to describe the people, country and whisky of Scotland.

John Bull[link]

John Bull was originally a character created by John Arbuthnot in 1712 to satirise the Whig war party. Later in the 18th century, British satirical artists James Gillray, Thomas Rowlandson and George Cruikshank contrasted the stout and healthy British cartoon character with scrawny French revolutionary sans-culottes Jacobins. During the 19th century the American cartoonist Thomas Nast also drew John Bull. This character has tended to be more popular in England, and to be more associated with England, than with either, Scotland, Wales, or Ireland. In light of this fact, John Bull's creator, John Arbuthnot, gave John Bull a sister, Peg, to represent the Scots.

Tommy[link]

The name Tommy for any soldier in the British Army is particularly associated with World War I. The French and the British Commonwealth armies used the name "Tommy" for the British. "Tommy" is derived from the name Tommy Atkins which had been used as a generic name for a soldier for many years (and had been used as an example name on British Army registration forms). The precise origin is the subject of some debate, but it is known to have been used as early as 1743. Rudyard Kipling published the poem Tommy (part of the Barrack Room Ballads) in 1892 and in 1893 the music hall song Private Tommy Atkins was published with words by Henry Hamilton and music by S. Potter. In 1898 William McGonagall wrote Lines In Praise of Tommy Atkins.

The paybooks issued to all British soldiers of World War I used the name "Tommy Atkins" to illustrate how they should be filled in.

Redcoat[link]

The term Redcoat is a defunct slang term (along with "lobsterback") for a British soldier. This term applied from the mid-17th century to around 1902 when British Army soldiers wore distinctive Venetian Red coats as part of their formal fighting wear and military dress uniforms. This term, "redcoat", is often used in a modern sense towards the British in a jovial manner.

However, the term "redcoat" has become somewhat associated with all Canadians because of the distinctive flame-red dress uniforms of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), which are worn only during ceremonies.

Suddo, Ingrisikarayo[link]

"Suddo", "Ingrisikarayo" are Sri Lankan, Sinhalese names for British and other western white skinned people

Alternative names for English[link]

Some of the terms above used for the British are used for the English in Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

• Sassenach - used to describe the English, by their immediate neighbours: the Scots, the Irish, and the Welsh, who use the word Saesneg. The term is derived from the original name of the Germanic settlers in what is now England - the Saxons.

• Sais - The Welsh word for Englishman, Saesnes is the female form. The Cornish word for an Englishman is "Sows", and the Cornish word for the English language is "Sowsnek".

• les goddams - During the Hundred Years' War, the French took to calling the English les goddams because of their frequent use of expletives.

Alternative names for Scottish[link]

• Scots
• Jock
• Jimmy
• Sweaty, Cockney rhyming slang, sweaty sock = Jock

Alternative names for Welsh[link]

• Taffy

Other languages[link]

In the East African Bantu languages Muzungu has come to mean any white European but more often than not especially the British or English due to their colonial past in the region.

In one of the Vindolanda tablets the Latin pejorative of Brittunculi (wretched little Britons) ^[9] is used (presumably by a Roman official) in a commentary of their particular military tactics.

In many languages, the equivalent terms for 'English' and 'England' are often used interchangeably with 'British' and 'Britain', and this is also relatively common in many non-British varieties of English. For example in Turkish 'İngiltere' is used for both Britain and England, despite there being a separate word for Britain, 'Britanya'. Welsh people in particular are very often referred to in French as 'Anglais' rather than 'Gallois', in Russian as 'англичанин' Angličanin, and so on. The same occurs rather less frequently in the case of individuals from Scotland and Northern Ireland. Scotland and Ireland remained at least partially separate entities until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries respectively, when the Kingdom of Great Britain and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland were formed. However, even these countries may still sometimes be considered to form part of Angleterre or the equivalent. In some languages, as in French, forms like Britannique ('British') are restricted to more official contexts, and tend to be used for governments rather than for individuals. In Assam (became part of British India in 1828), one of the last states to join British India, British are called as Boga Bongal (literally meaning White Foreigners or White Intruders). Bongal was a derogatory word for foreigners and invaders in Assam under Ahom rule and it still is used.

In Polish a common formal term to describe an Englishman is Anglik, or Brytyjczyk for a British. The first one is derived from the Polish word for England Anglia, the latter from a Polish word for Great Britain Wielka Brytania. Derogatory terms for an English/British man coined in the recent years are Angol or Brytol respectively; however, due to its negative connotations they are not used in formal writing or by the media.

In Nepal, the British are often referred to as Kuires/Khaires which means people of white or pale colour. It is also used in general for any Caucasian person with white skin.

The Malaysia, one common Malay equivalent is mat salleh. The term may had originated from the general depiction of British colonial sailors who were often drunk (Mad Sailors); due to the inability of locals to pronounce English words correctly, it became mat salleh (Mat and Salleh are both typical Malay names). Another possible origin of the phrase is the Mat Salleh Rebellion, led by North Borneo chief Mat Salleh, against the British North Borneo Company during the late-19th century. Another alternative to mat salleh is orang putih (literally "white people" in Malay) or its shortened rural form, omputih. In ancient Malaccan times, the term orang deringgi was also used.

Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese use terms for Britain/British which are derived from the words "England" and "English". The Japanese word for Britain has its origins in the Portuguese word for English: Inglês became (Japanese) Igirisu.

Although the Chinese Yīngguó (Hanzi: 英国), Japanese Eikoku (Kanji: 英国), Korean Yeongguk (Hangul: 영국), and Vietnamese Anh Quốc are all derived from "Eng-" in England, they are used to mean "Britain" and "British", including both Great Britain and UK. They are still used to mean England in unofficial contexts. There are also more formal specific names for the UK, such as the Chinese 聯合王國 Liánhéwángguó and Japanese 連合王国 Rengōōkoku literally meaning "United Kingdom". Separate words exist in all of these languages for each of the constituent parts of the UK, including England, although, as elsewhere, there is little awareness of correct usage. However, sport teams are called by their correct name, as can be seen in any World Cup schedule.

The written form of Yīngguó in Chinese is made up of two characters: 英国. The first 英 (yīng) as an adjective means "outstanding" and "fine", and as a noun means "flower"; the second is 国 (guó) which means "country", "state" or "kingdom". Originally the adjective word was written as 英吉利 Yīngjílì as an approximation of the adjective word English, and is still used to mean English in the Chinese word for the English Channel 英吉利海峡 Yīng jí lì hǎi xiá. The noun word was written as 英格兰 Ying ge lan for the noun England, also 苏格兰 Su ge lan for Scotland, 爱尔兰 Ai er lan for Ireland and 威尔士 Wei er shi for Wales. Also in history books Great Britain is written 大不列颠 da bu lie dian, from 大 (Great) and the sounds of the words 不列颠 similar to the sound interpretation. The word 英吉利 was given the reading igirisu in Japanese, and the same abbreviation was adopted, 英国 eikoku, taking the first character and using the more usual 'Chinese' reading. These days, the word is usually written using katakana script as イギリス Igirisu, although 英国 Eikoku is still common.^[10] The first character is also used in the word for the English language, 英語 eigo.^[11] Additionally, Vietnamese đảo Anh (literally, "English island") means the island of Great Britain.

See also[link]

• Britons (historic)
• British Isles (terminology)
• Blighty
• List of British regional nicknames
• Offensive terms per nationality

References[link]

Pommy Johnson is a comedian from Australia.[1] He was voted Australian comedian of the Year 2002 at the Maurie Awards, held at the Comic Lounge.

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This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2011)

Rodney Rude (born Rodney Malcolm Keft, 29 January 1943 in Nowra, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian 'blue' stand-up comedian, poet and writer. He is infamous for his bawdy humour. He has released 12 albums and 5 videos throughout his long career, all of which are distributed by EMI Music Australia. To date, Rodney has sold well in excess of 3 million CDs videos and DVDs. Rodney has also been nominated for 6 ARIA awards for Best Comedy Release for almost every album he has released.

Early career[link]

He began his career performing with traveling tent shows on the showground circuit in the early 1960s, singing and playing guitar. His habit of altering the lyrics of songs to amuse himself and his audience prompted him to become a comedian. He left Australia in the mid-1960s to tour the world, and to work in America, Canada and Europe under various stage names.

Personal life[link]

Family[link]

Rodney's first marriage was to a Canadian woman; his son from that marriage continues to live in Canada. He is married to wife Pat, has children, and lives on a property in the Illawarra region.

Arrests in Queensland and Western Australia[link]

He was arrested by Queensland police in the mid-1980s after offending officers during a show. He fought several long and expensive court cases defending his right to perform his show to adult audiences. His legal battle continued after police brought further obscenity charges in Western Australia where the case finally went to the full bench of the supreme court. Rodney won his court cases and all charges were quashed. After the Fitzgerald Inquiry against corruption (1987–89), set up to investigate police corruption in the state of Queensland, the police officer leading the case of obscenity against Rodney was jailed for corruption in an unrelated matter. Since that time Rodney performed without incident in all states of Australia.

According to his website, rude.com.au, his absence from the comedy circuit in 2004 was due to his recovery from a motorcycle accident on his property, which required him to undergo a knee reconstruction.

Rude toured Australia for the last time in 2006. A CD and DVD accompanied the tour, the CD Frog Sack was released on 11 November 2006 and the DVD Rodney Rude Goes the Growl was released 11 October 2008. In late 2009, Rude announced he was coming out of retirement and returning to stand-up comedy in 2010.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Rodney Rude Live (1984)
• I Got More (1985)
• Rude Rides Again (1986)
• Not Guilty (1988)
• A Legend (1991)
• Rats Arse (1995)
• More Grunt (1998)
• Ya Mum's Bum (2000)
• Rude Bastard (2002)
• Twice as Rude (2004)
• Frog Sack (2006)

Compilations[link]

• Classic Rude (1992)

Single[link]

• "I Hate That" (censored version) (1984)

Filmography[link]

• Rude Rude Rodney Rude on Video (later released as Rodney Rude Live) (1984)
• Rude Rides Again (1987)
• I Don't Give a Rats Arse (1996)
• Get Rude On (2002)
• Rodney Rude Goes the Growl (2008)

See also[link]

• Australian odes

External links[link]

• Rodney Rude at Musichead.com.au (run by his record company, EMI)

Janine Pommy Vega (February 5, 1942 – December 23, 2010)^[1] was an American poet associated with the Beats.

Vega grew up in Union City, New Jersey. At the age of sixteen, inspired by Jack Kerouac's On the Road, she travelled to Manhattan to become involved in the Beat scene there.

In 1962, Vega moved to Europe with her husband, painter Fernando Vega. After his sudden death in Spain in 1965, she returned to New York, and then moved to California. Her first book, Poems to Fernando, was published by City Lights in 1968 as part of their City Lights Pocket Poets Series. During the early-1970s, Vega lived as a hermit on the Isla del Sol in Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian-Peruvian border. Out of this self-imposed exile came Journal of a Hermit (1974) and Morning Passage (1976).

Following her return to the Americas, she has published more than a dozen books, including Tracking the Serpent: Journeys to Four Continents (1997) which is a collection of travel writings. Her last book of poetry was The Green Piano.^[2]

In the 1970s, Vega began working as an educator in schools through various arts in education programs and in prisons through the Incisions/Arts organisation. She has served on the PEN Prison Writing Committee. Pommy Vega was a pioneer of the women's movement in the United States. She had worked to improve the lives, conditions, and opportunities for women in prison.^{[citation needed]}

Vega had traveled throughout the North American and South American continents, all throughout Europe, including Eastern Europe, countries in the Middle East, often alone. She made friends everywhere, approaching all on the same, basic, human level, with love and compassion.

By 2006, Vega was living near Woodstock. She spent the last 11 years of her life with poet Andy Clausen.

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.janinepommyvega.com/
• Janine Pommy-Vega (1942-2010) this cyber tombeau by poet Pierre Joris includes the opening poem of her first book, Poems to Fernando (City Lights Books, 1968) and a homage-poem by Valery Oişteanu called "The Drum Circle for Janine Pommy Vega".

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Yasunori Mitsuda
Background information
Born	(1972-01-21) January 21, 1972 (age 40) Tokuyama, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan
Genres	Electronic (chiptune, video game), jazz, orchestral (classical), world (Asian, Celtic)
Occupations	Composer, musician
Instruments	Piano, guitar, bouzouki[citation needed]
Years active	1992–present
Labels	NTT Publishing DigiCube Sleigh Bells

Yasunori Mitsuda (光田 康典, Mitsuda Yasunori^?, born January 21, 1972) is a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He has composed music for or worked on over 35 games, and has contributed to over 15 other albums. He is best known for his compositions for the video games Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Mario Party, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I, Soma Bringer, Xenoblade, and Inazuma Eleven. He began composing video game music for his own games in high school, and after graduation attended Junior College of Music in Tokyo. In 1992 upon graduation he joined Square (now Square Enix) as a composer after seeing a magazine advertisement in an office he was visiting with his professor.

Despite his job title as a composer, Mitsuda worked as a sound engineer for two years. In 1994, after threatening to quit to Square's vice president, Hironobu Sakaguchi, he was assigned to compose the soundtrack to Chrono Trigger. After the game's success and the music's acclaim, he went on to compose several other games for Square, including Xenogears. In 1998 Mitsuda left Square to work as a freelance composer, founding his own music production studio, Procyon Studio, in 2001 as well as his own record label, Sleigh Bells. The company has since expanded to nine employees, and Mitsuda continues to compose for video games, as well as for anime series and his own independent albums.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Mitsuda was born in Tokuyama, Japan, on January 21, 1972 and was raised in Kumage District. He took piano lessons beginning at the age of five, but he was more interested in sports and never took music seriously, quitting by the age of six.^[1][2] For a while, he wanted to become a professional golfer. While in high school, Mitsuda rediscovered music, inspired by Vangelis' Blade Runner and Henry Mancini's The Pink Panther film scores. After watching Railman, he decided to become a music composer.^[2] He became interested in PCs after his father bought him one, which was a rare item at the time. He started to program computer games and compose music for them, as well as take more technically-oriented classes.^[1]

After high school, Mitsuda decided to leave town and become independent. With encouragement from his father and sister, he moved to Tokyo and enrolled in the Junior College of Music. Despite the school's low prestige, Mitsuda received solid instruction from his professors, most of them practicing musicians who would take Mitsuda to gigs with them to help carry and set up equipment. At the cost of being used for free physical labor, Mitsuda got a first-hand view of the Japanese music world and valuable training both in and out of the classroom. He also during his time at the school worked for six months as an assistant to one of the professors at a video game sound department.^[1]

During this work experience, with his school term ending, Mitsuda saw an advertisement for a sound producer at Square in a copy of Famitsu magazine at a game company he was visiting. With no clear plans as to what he wanted to do after school, he applied for the position.^[3] Mitsuda sent a demo which won him an interview at the game studio. Despite the self-described "disastrous" interview with composer Nobuo Uematsu and sound programmer Minoru Akao, in which he claimed to only want the job as a "stepping stone" in his career and admitted that he had never played many of Square's biggest games, such as the Final Fantasy series, Mitsuda was offered a position on the company's sound team in April 1992.^[1]

Career[link]

Although his official job title was "composer", Mitsuda found himself working more as a sound engineer. Over the next two years, he created sound effects for Hanjuku Hero, Final Fantasy V, Secret of Mana and Romancing SaGa 2.^[4] In 1994, realizing that he would never get a chance to move up to a real composition duty without some drastic action and feeling concerned about his low pay, he gave Square's vice president, Hironobu Sakaguchi, an ultimatum: let him compose, or he would quit. Sakaguchi assigned the young musician to the team working on Chrono Trigger, telling him that "after you finish it, maybe your salary will go up". Mitsuda was assigned as the sole composer for the game, in the end creating 54 tracks for the final release. Mitsuda drove himself to work hard on the score, frequently working until he passed out, and would awake with ideas for songs such as the ending theme for the game.^[3] He worked so hard that he developed stomach ulcers and had to be hospitalized, which led Uematsu to offer to finish the remaining tracks for him; Uematsu ended up composing ten tracks, one of which he was assisted on by Noriko Matsueda.^[5]

Chrono Trigger proved a great success, and the soundtrack proved extremely popular with fans.^[5] Mitsuda claims that it is his "landmark" title, which "matured" him and his music.^[2] He attributes its success with fans to his use of folk and jazz styling, rather than the "semi-orchestral" style popular in game music at the time.^[6] Following Chrono Trigger, Mitsuda composed the soundtrack for Front Mission: Gun Hazard, again with Uematsu. According to Uematsu, Mitsuda again worked so much that he eventually defecated blood out of stress and physical problems.^[7] Mitsuda worked on three more titles for Square: Tobal No. 1 (Square's first PlayStation game) and Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki both in 1996, and Xenogears in 1998, which featured the first ballad in a Square game, the Celtic ending theme "Small Two of Pieces" sung by Joanne Hogg. Mitsuda also during this period produced albums of arranged music of his original scores, creating acid jazz remixes in Chrono Trigger Arranged Version: The Brink of Time and a Celtic arrangement album of Xenogears music, Creid.^[1][3] In 1998, following up on what he had said in his original interview with the company, Mitsuda left Square to work as a freelance composer, the first of several of Square's composers to do so.^[4]

Following his leaving, Mitsuda has only worked on one more original game with Square, composing for 1999's Chrono Cross, the sequel to Chrono Trigger. He has worked on over a dozen games since then, including the spiritual sequel to Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, and major titles such as Shadow Hearts and Luminous Arc. In addition to video games, Mitsuda has composed music for the anime Inazuma Eleven and for the independent album Kirite.^[8] On November 22, 2001, Mitsuda formed Procyon Studio as a company to produce his music, along with a record label, Sleigh Bells.^[9] The company consisted of only Mitsuda as composer along with a few sound producers for several years, but has expanded since to include nine employees, including other composers.^[10] Mitsuda and Procyon Studio have also produced more arranged albums, such as Sailing to the World and 2009's Colours of Light, a compilation album of vocal pieces Mitsuda has composed.^[8] The studio was also involved in programming the KORG DS-10 synthesizer program for the Nintendo DS, while Mitsuda himself produced and composed for an iPhone game, bQLSI Star Laser.^[6] According to an April 2009 interview with Nintendo Power, Mitsuda is currently working on "undisclosed projects" for the Nintendo DS, Wii, and PlayStation 3.^[11] Mitsuda claims that, for the projects Procyon has been working on for the past few years, he has been focusing more on working as a music producer for a team of artists rather than just as a composer.^[6]

Legacy[link]

Rony Barrak performing during the Chrono symphonic suite at a Play! A Video Game Symphony concert

Mitsuda's music from Chrono Trigger was first performed live by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra in 1996 at the Orchestral Game Concert in Tokyo, Japan, and released on an accompanying album.^[12] The first symphonic performance of his music outside of Japan took place in 2005 at the Symphonic Game Music Concert in Leipzig, Germany when music from Chrono Cross was presented. Mitsuda has arranged versions of music from Trigger and Cross for Play! A Video Game Symphony video game music concerts in 2006.^[13] Music from the two games has also been performed in other video game concert tours such as the Video Games Live concert series and in concerts by the Eminence Orchestra.^[2][14] Music written by Yasunori Mitsuda for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross made up one fourth of the music of the Symphonic Fantasies concerts in September 2009 which were produced by the creators of the Symphonic Game Music Concert series and conducted by Arnie Roth.^[15] "Scars of Time" from Chrono Cross was played at the Fantasy Comes Alive concert in Singapore on April 30, 2010.^[16]

Mitsuda's music has been heavily remixed by fans, sparking several albums. These include the officially licensed Time & Space - A Tribute to Yasunori Mitsuda, released by OneUp Studios on October 7, 2001 and containing 18 remixes, with a second version of the album released on June 17, 2003. Another popular album release was Chrono Symphonic, an unofficial download-only album release by the remix website OverClocked ReMix on January 3, 2006 containing 25 remixes over 2 "discs".^[17] A related popular album release was Radical Dreamers: Thieves of Fate, an unofficial download-only album release by the OverClocked ReMix on January 5, 2008 containing 15 remixes of the soundtrack to Radical Dreamers.^[18] Mitsuda's music for Xenogears has also sparked fan-made albums; an officially-licensed tribute album titled Xenogears Light: An Arranged Album, was published in limited quantities by the fan group OneUp Studios in 2005.^[19] The album features 20 tracks arranged from the Xenogears score and performed with acoustic instruments, such as piano, flute, guitar and violin.^[20] Another, unofficial album of remixes titled Humans + Gears was produced as a digital album by OverClocked Remix on October 19, 2009 consisting of 33 tracks on two "discs".^[21] Selections of remixes of Mitsuda's work also appear on Japanese remix albums, called Dōjin, and on English remixing websites such as OverClocked Remix.^[22]

Music from the Chrono Trigger soundtrack has been arranged for the piano and published as sheet music by DOREMI Music Publishing.^[23] Sheet music for Chrono Cross tracks arranged for both solo guitar and guitar duets has been released by Procyon Studio.^[24]

Musical style and influences[link]

Mitsuda claims to compose by "just fool[ing] around on my keyboard" and letting the melodies come to him.^[25] He also sometimes comes up with songs while asleep, including the ending theme to Chrono Trigger and "Bonds of Sea and Fire" from Xenogears, though his main inspiration is visual items, "paintings or other things".^[3] His music is frequently minimalistic, and he has cited Minimalism as an influence. His final battle themes for Chrono Trigger and Xenogears are based on only a few chords each, with the latter containing only two.^[26] Mitsuda has listened to a great number of musical genres throughout his life, which he learned from his father, and is especially inspired by jazz music.^[3] He is also inspired by Celtic music, and has created two albums of music in that style.^[4] His soundtrack for Chrono Trigger also shows the influence of Asian music, including the sounds of Japanese shakuhachi flutes and Indian tabla drums.^[27] He has cited Maurice Ravel, J.S. Bach, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Claude Debussy, Robert Schumann, Antonín Dvořák, and Gustav Holst as his favorite classical composers, claiming that his modern influences are too numerous to name as he listens to so much music.^[2]

Mitsuda names his favorite works as the soundtracks to the Chrono series, Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I, and the original album Kirite, though he also says that all of his soundtracks are "representational works", as they represent who he was as a composer when he made them.^[2][4] His favorite pieces overall are "The Girl Who Closed Her Heart" and "Pain" from Xenosaga Episode I and pieces from Kirite.^[3] When he starts to compose a soundtrack, he first takes one month to gather information and artwork about the game world and scenario, so that his music will fit in with the game. He also finds it easier to be inspired if he has a visual representation.^[2][3] Mitsuda claims that he does not save his best work for more popular games, as he tries to compose each piece to correspond to how it is going to be used in a specific game. He also tries to compose good pieces even for games he feels do not live up to them, so that they will be a redeeming point about the game for the players.^[2] The majority of his video game soundtracks are for role-playing games, but he likes projects that are different from what he has done before and is interested in working in other genres.^[3]

Discography[link]

Video games[link]

Composition

Arrangement

• Mega Man Legends 2 (2000)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl (2008) ("Vs. Marx", "World Map (Pikmin 2)")

Sound design

• Hanjuku Hero: Aa, Sekaiyo Hanjukunare...! (1992)
• Final Fantasy V (1992)
• Secret of Mana (1993)
• Romancing SaGa 2 (1993)

Sound production

• Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter (2002) – music composed by Hitoshi Sakimoto
• Luminous Arc 2 (2008) – music composed by Yoko Shimomura, Akiri Kaida, Yoshino Aoki, Shunsuke Tsuchiya, and ISEPPE
• Luminous Arc 3 (2009)
• Thexder Neo (2009) - sound director
• Treasure Report: Kikai Jikake no Isan (2011) - music composed by Maki Kirioka

Other works[link]

Composition

Arrangement

• Street Fighter EX2 Arrange Album (1998)
• Heijitsu Machine (2000)
• It's Okay to Cry / Where Dreams Come True (2000)
• Love Will Begin ~ Blue Sky, The Sun and The Wind (2001)
• Street Fighter Tribute Album (2003)
• Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange (2004)
• near death experience, SHADOW HEARTS Arrangetracks (2005)
• Rogue Galaxy Premium Arrange (2006)
• An Cinniuint (2008)
• Dariusburst Remix Wonder World (2010)

See also[link]

• Music of Chrono Trigger
• Music of Chrono Cross

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Yasunori Mitsuda's official website(Japanese)