Baba Yetu

I like new things. So, in my endless quest for new, unexplored online territory, I've made this here blog. I intend for this to become a place where I share my daily inspirations and musings.

Many months ago, I was given a copy of Civilization IV. Its a good game, as Civilization games go, which means its fairly long and gets progressively more complex as it goes. But far more fun than the game itself was something else that came in the box: the soundtrack.

Civilization games have never really been known for their music, but there are a few gems in this one. In particular, the song Baba Yetu - which is strangely the music behind the Menu screen - is downright divine. I am no music guru, but I know good music when I hear it. This song is both epic and humble, as it combines sweeping instrumentation (that ratchets up the self-importance to motion-picture levels, but without making it sound cheesy) with a fantastic slate of voices that feel instinctively human.

But it gets better: what are these strange, vaguely-African syllables they're singing? That's the Lord's Prayer in Swahili. Yes, that's right. "Baba Yetu" means "Our Father." (Here is a complete offering of the Swahili, and how it compares to the english.)

And who was the clever composer who decided to set the Swahili version of a Christian prayer to acapella music and orchestration? Christopher Tin, that's who. Even though he's had his name of a few other big productions, namely the films X2 and Lilo and Stitch, this guy is just a young kid, probably not much older than me. And he has created something absolutely delightful.

It is a perfect song for what the Civilization series is all about: poetically speaking, it romantically encapsulates the origins of human society and draws our attention to the fact that those origins are, for all of us together, the same. In a strange and humbling way, I see this song as a declaration of our collective humanity.

PS - If you want to learn more, this guy with a very shiny blog has done his homework.