This video features me on a stroll through Ruta Maya, a multi-sim recreation of Mexico's many lovely sights and wonders, created by Advanced Virtual Inc. on a commission by the Mexican Tourist Board. (Direct SLURL teleport to the site at this link.) Turn the volume up, because you'll want to hear all the ambient sounds and cinematic music, all of which were recorded live and on location. The composition is by musician Dizzy Banjo, and it's nine different tracks; as you walk through the Mexican locations, the music changes in mood and tempo to suit the location you're in. In other words, Dizzy has composed location-centric music for the metaverse, roughly in the same way Brian Eno once composed music for airports.
At thirty rich and varied minutes, it's a veritable soundtrack designed specifically for a Second Life space, and as such, probably the first of its kind. "The music is property of Mexico now," Dizzy tells me by e-mail, which makes his composition even more unique: music for a virtual world, commissioned by a government body.
Read more about it on Bettina Tizzy's blog, where she has an extended profile on Banjo's music. Dizzy, by the way, was last seen on this blog orchestrating the VOIP-powered music project Parsec.
the slurl is not available for visiting.. should be:
http://slurl.com/secondlife/visit%20mexico%202/207/117/34
Posted by: Ken March | Tuesday, April 15, 2008 at 11:31 AM