Magic & Mayhem - Celtic 2

"Celtic 2" (unofficial title), written and performed by Afro Celt Sound System for the 1998 video game Magic & Mayhem.

The CD inlay includes the following message from Simon Emmerson:

"A note from Simon Emerson [sic] of the Afro Celt Sound System

We were approached by Virgin Interactive to do the music for Magic & Mayhem back in 1997 in the middle of a 41 date world tour. As you all know, computer games are the new rock and roll so being a devoted gamester, the thought of getting paid money to spend hours in front of a computer screen composing music and playing a state of the art game was too big an incentive to turn down.

The Mythos team were drawn to The Afro Celt Sound System because of our last record (Vol. 1: Sound Magic, Real World Records CDRW61) had the slow builds and epic soundscapes they felt would work wonders in a multi-media context. Our task was to create a soundtrack subliminal enough to provide good background atmospheres as well as performance pieces and themes for the respective realms.

The Greek and Medieval realms feature our French Breton Harp player Myrdhin/Merlin (it is his real name, and yes, we know it's a coincidence!). Apparently, for the Greek realm he used the authentic Greek six note Byzantian scale. I'm more interested in hard core techno beats myself.

The opening Celtic air features the ancient roots sounding Uilleann pipes of Ronan Browne. The weird buzzing instrument that provides the trancy-dancy tune for the Celtic Realm is a hurdy gurdy played by Nigel Eaton who had just come off the road touring with Page and Plant from Led Zeppelin.

James McNally, our multi-instrumentalist, provides the rhythmic textures with bodhran (the irish drum) and accordion, as well as some top line whistle melodies.

Thanks to Martin Russell, my trusty co-producer/engineer, Paul Whipp at Virgin Interactive for getting us the gig, Tetley at Mythos Games for providing all the amazing sound effects.

Simon Emerson, producer/musician, Afro Celt Sound System"