Baba Yetu

Am now listening endlessly to Baba Yetu, a Christopher Tin composition which is known to gamers across the world as the opening menu music in Sid Meier's Civilization IV from Firaxis Games. Vocals were performed by Talisman A Capella, a Stanford University a capella group.

The lyrics happen to be The Lord's Prayer in Swahili. You can download your own copy of the mp3 (legitimately!) from the samples page on the composer's website.

Glowing reviews all around from the gaming world:

• Gamezone: I don't know when I've enjoyed in-game music more, especially the introductory music.
  
• Matt Slagle, Associated Press: I can't say enough about the excellent soundtrack.
  
• computergames.ro: The theme from the main menu (Baba Yetu) is the piece de resistance - I liked it so much that I listened to it for days on end
• Amped IGO: The title track is an awesome, up-beat song that is definitely the highlight of the soundtrack...
• Yahoo Games: Special mention goes to the music, which is shockingly good.
• IGN: ...the music really steals the show.
• Gamespot: Civ IV also presents itself well with a distinctive title-screen track...
  

If you want to sing along in Swahili, the lyrics are available at this blogpost at Sushi Delight.

And endless thanks to Ants for sending me the link, and giving me a reason to add music back to my blog's sidebar. ;-)