Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, a vibrant narrative about a young warrior-shaman who faces unspeakable loss and grief, is shaping up to be an incredible game that incorporates music, story and visuals as part of a three-way dance into a universe inspired by Bantu mythologies. This will be Surgent Studios' debut game and, naturally, something they are putting every inch of their collective passion into.
In a recent preview event that I attended for Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, its music composer Nainita Desai talked about “the sound of grief” and how important it was to fuse the game’s coming-of-age story with a diverse soundtrack of African music that brought with it “cultural authenticity”.
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Bridging The Gap Between Human Connections And Music
Nainita Desaiis a Royal Television Society and Emmy-winning composer, offering her incredible talents to projects that include the interactive film video game Immortality, Telling Lies, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Having been with Tales of Kenzera: ZAU since its concept, Desai’s passion and excitement when discussing its soundtrack is almost palatable.
“Instead of just layering on African elements on top of the score, I really wanted African music to be embedded into the DNA of the music and the game”, Desai passionately told the virtual press room.
Continuing to discuss the orchestral parts and how they are imbued with the harmonic language of the game’s ethnic traditions, Desai states how much research went into ZAU by making sure musicians from across West Africa were brought in to play traditional instruments to truly immerse the game in its roots and to “get across the power and the kinetic energy in ZAU’s mission”.
What I found fascinating and an important core element that adds so much depth and connection is that Tales of Kenzera: ZAU’s song lyrics are inspired by ZAU’s journey throughout the game and the in-game group chants are all sung in Swahili, a Bantu language spoken on the east coast of Africa.
Not only this, but Surgent Studios also brought in the iconic melodies ofVoquality, the very same choir that performed in Marvel’s Black Panther who take on the game’s bigger epic singing components.
“I feel the choirs make the music more human with the connection to the player,” said Desai, “but it’s also an element deep-rooted in the traditional African culture, so all in all, I wanted to create a unique musical journey for this beautiful coming of age story”. Continuing, “The emotional moments are just as epic as the combat and action, and, for me, it was one of the most enriching projects to have been a part of.”
Of course, with a soundtrack as mesmerizing and as intensively curated as Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is going by itsgame traileralone, players will very likely want to get their hands on it after they have finished the game. Thankfully, Desai has good news for audiophiles.
“Yes, absolutely it’ll be available to purchase. It’ll be out on all the streamers; Apple, Spotify, wherever you stream your music. We’ve taken a great deal of care in curating special mixes and extended versions, so basically all the music you hear in the game is going to be on the soundtrack, and we’re very excited about that.”
