Edited by Leonardo Garcia
In the ever-changing and vibrant community of Anteaters in UCI, clubs are an important part of campus culture. Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with the director of the Euphonic Video Game Ensemble about what EVGE is and their upcoming collaboration concert with UCI animation club Anteater Artists.
As a starter question, please introduce yourself and tell us about EVGE and what they do?
My name is Gabe Nunag. EVGE—Euphonic Video Game Ensemble—is a student-led organization that aims to arrange and perform music from video games, film, and other media. We want to encourage a low-stake and safe space for people to express their creativity and passion for video game music.
You’ve covered music from Pokemon, Zelda, Xenoblade Chronicles, and Perona 5. How does EVGE choose which game they want to cover?
I’m responsible for both conducting the orchestra and creating all of the music. So, the decision between what songs to play honestly comes down to: A, whatever I feel like writing, but also B, the strengths and weaknesses of my current player list. There are some pieces where I really wanted to play it, but we either don’t have the proper instrumentation for it, we don’t have enough people, or we might need to pander to a weakness a player has. There are pieces that I really didn’t want to play, that I didn’t have a super strong opinion about playing, but because it caters to our players strengths as musicians, I thought it would be a great way to showcase their talents as well.
Is there a piece that you were personally hoping to have played? An example?
Yeah, one of the pieces I was really hoping to play was a medley that I composed for The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening. We played it as a woodwind quintet last quarter, but we no longer have a woodwind quintet. We don’t have access to a bassoon or an oboe, so I've had to put that on the back burner for a while now.
I’ve heard rehearsals can be pretty relaxed, even though I’m sure the musicians take the music very seriously. So, how would you describe the process of getting ready for a concert?
To be honest, this is our first concert hosted by ourselves. Z3 (a UCI video game showcase) was the first time we ever performed, last spring. These two upcoming concerts, at the end of February and in the beginning of March, are going to be our first times. Like you said, rehearsals are pretty lax. I’m not really forcing anybody to do anything. The only thing I will do is enforce attendance, the day before the concert, “Please come to rehearsal.” But besides that I’m not really pushing anyone to play insane pieces or something way outside their skill range. Obviously, I try to write the parts so the people who play for me can improve on their own, but I’m not going to ask something unreasonable of them for the sake of having a good performance or something like that. I think it would be nice to play at a really professional sounding level, but, I think most of all, having fun and showcasing our best potential is an important thing.
Anyway, let’s move on to the subject of the Ghibli concert. How did this collaboration come about?
One of my members—he’s a piano player—is a very prominent member of the Anteater Animation Club as well. He is one of my background people. He doesn’t play for us that often, even though he does play piano. He is mostly in charge of the art direction. So, we decided at the beginning of the year, “Hey, why don’t we do something with the Animation Club? Because I think it would be cool to do something from a movie, instead of just a video game,” and we decided to do a Ghibli concert. I would be responsible for writing the music, EVGE would be responsible for rehearsing and playing the music, and the Anteater animators would be responsible for providing a looping animation in the background that would be the centerpiece of the whole performance.
What about Ghibli music appealed to you that made you want to base a concert on it?
I really am a big fan of Joe Hisaishi, who is the main composer for the Ghibli films. He’s one of my biggest inspirations as a modern day traditional composer. I also really love the Ghibli films. I grew up watching a couple of them and I just recently started watching a lot more of them. I just thought it was a relatable medium. It’s not on the level of Disney—Disney copyright scares me a little bit more. And I think Ghibli, being from a primarily Japanese composer—even though it’s western influenced—does have very traditional eastern elements hidden in the chord progression and instrumentation. I thought it would blend naturally with the other stuff we are doing, which would be video game music from Japan, as well. I thought it would make for a more homogenous sound in our orchestra. The animations are really cute too.
So, you’ve confirmed you’re doing songs from Castle in the Sky and “Path of the Wind” (from My Neighbor Totoro). Can you share with us any other music you may be covering?
Yeah, Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and The Wind Rises.
How has it been collaborating with Anteater Artists?
They’re very kind. They’re very amiable and understanding. They’ve been around much longer than we have, so we’ve been relying on their knowledge on how to run a school-sponsored event and how to get started, things like that. And, they’ve honestly been a blast to work with and it’s been really cool to see the work in progress—the animations and backdrop from them. Seeing how they develop over time, I think it’s really charming. I thought it was really cool what they were doing. It’s something I’m interested in but could never do myself.
You’ve collaborated with Z3 as well. Would you say this experience has encouraged you to do more collaborations in the future?
Yeah. Well, first of all, given the school’s policy on major events, we can only have two concerts a year. Collaborations give us an opportunity to perform more and to perform to a wider audience that wouldn’t have noticed us otherwise because we are a pretty small group. I also think that I enjoy collaborating with others because it’s nice to learn from their experience, as well. As someone who is not used to running such a large group logistically, I think it’s a good opportunity for me personally to learn, for us as a group to get more exposure and a wider audience, and hopefully provide some interesting musical backdrop for whatever events we decide to collaborate with.
Is there any other group you would be interested in collaborating with?
VGDC (the UCI Video Game Development Club, who hosted Z3) was the biggest one because it’s game development, so obviously we’re targeting that niche. Anteater Animations was nice too. I think if…I actually don’t know what kind of clubs there are on campus because I never really checked. I was too busy forming my own to check any of the other ones. But an anime club would be a very obvious choice or maybe a film appreciation club or something like that. I think there are those two clubs on campus, I just don’t know who they are.
Is there anything you’d like to add to close out the interview?
Am I allowed to shamelessly plug?
Yes! This is a plug! Go ahead!
Please join us for our Ghibli concert with Anteater Animations on February 24th at 7pm at Pacific Ballroom, and please join us for our end-of-the-quarter concert at Emerald Bay on March 9th at 6pm.
You can find EVGE’s and the Anteater Artists' Instagram here!
Anteater Artists: @anteaterartists
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