Wednesday 11 April 2012

Bayan time (15): Angry Birds



Last Sunday I went to the Topsham Folk Club (at its current temporary venue in Route 2 Cafe Bar while The Globe is being renovated). I'm not terribly into folk - at least in its English folk club incarnation - but at the moment I'm getting in as much public performance practice as I can, as I'm due to play on Topsham Quay on June 2nd. There was a full turnout, so I only played one slot, but I took along a couple of Finnish tunes: a very slimmed-down instrumental version of Koskaan et muuttua saa (a.k.a. Adagio Cardinal), and the decidedly non-folk Angry Birds theme by Ari Pulkkinen. They went down very well, and the second one definitely raised a chuckle in the back row.

On the off-chance that you don't know it, the Angry Birds theme backs the Rovio Mobile strategy puzzle game originally developed as an app for Apple iOS devices such as the iPhone:
Ari Pulkkinen’s most famous composition so far, Angry Birds theme reflects the silliness and different phases of anger of the Angry Birds – the first phase is the peaceful phase of the birds when they are happy and have all of their eggs (it’s also famous for its ability to stuck to everyones mind), second phase is when the Birds realise that their eggs have been stolen and the last phase is when the Birds are chasing the pigs for the crimes against birdmanity.
- aripulkkinen.com
I think one can overanalyse! It's a vigorous and witty tune - here's the original - that has inspired a number of arrangements such as Lara's piano version, this klezmer-style Genevieve Trio version for soprano sax and piano accordion, the comic duet by the excellent Pomplamoose, this London Philharmonic Orchestra one ... and, naturally, standalone piano accordion. It's also perfect for bayan.

- Ray

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