My Interview With Nobuo Uematsu:
In January of 1997, I was working on a project for the Spring Concert for my senior year in high school. I had just listened to "Final Fantasy VI: Grand Finale" and was totally enthralled with the arranged version of "Aria Di Mezzo Caraterre", which was Celes' theme music in the game. I hit upon the idea of doing my own arrangement of it for the concert. I wanted to get in touch with Mr. Uematsu and ask his permission to perform the selection.
Our high school had just recently gotten internet access, and I thought, "What the heck, I'll e-mail Mr. Uematsu and see if he replies!". It would be the icing on the cake to not only perform an arrangement I worked on myself, but to have his permission, as well.
Then I thought as long as I was going to email him, I might as well include some questions I'd always wanted to ask him.
Imagine my surprise when I actually got a response!
What follows is the email interview I conducted with Mr. Uematsu. The only alteration I did was convert the questions and answers into an HTML-format.
How did you start your work in music?
I began to play the piano age of 12, because at the time I wanted to be Elton John(!). And also I began to write songs. Until age of 22, I joined so many ameteur bands as a keyboards player. But I loved to write more than playing. So I decided to be a composer, and sent demo tapes to many, many companies. One of them picked me up, and I wrote a small music for radio CM. This is my first professional job.
How did you come to work for Square Soft?
In 1985, one of my friends who was working at Square Soft called me and said, "We are looking for a composer for game music. Do you want to come?" I replied at once, "Sure!!" Because as you know it is not so easy to get a music job in Japan.
What was it like writing music for Final Fantasy 6?
Final Fantasy 6 is one of my favorite job. Writing music was so much to me. But now I recommend {sic} you FF7. Please wait for release of FF7 in the States.
And what are you future plans?
I will go to Honolulu next month to be interviewed by an American game Magazine. (I forgot the name of the Magazine) [Note: It was Die Hard Game Fan]
Now I am planning to make an omnibus CD (new age music) with my friends. In summer, I will begin to compose for a new game, it will be released at the end of 1998 in Japan. In 1999 I hope I can release my second album.....
Anyway, thank you very much for being a fan of FF series. Although I can not send replies every time, I love to read mail from other countries. Thank you very much.