[Exclusive] Sephiroth's theme in Final Fantasy VII is the way it is because of Jimi Hendrix, says Nobuo Uematsu

We chatted with the composer at SDCCM and he revealed that two artists were influential in creating the music for arguably the greatest villain in video game history.

There's a rather telling truth about geniuses in the arts, and that is that even if they create something that we find utterly revolutionary, iconic, and could almost redefine conceptions of their field after showing it to the world, it will always be built on the shoulders of other artists and influences that preceded their time. That, of course, does not tarnish the merit of the artist, but it is always interesting to look for what or who was the catalyst for the creation of a work.

The same is true of video games (which is why many of us consider them to be the most complete expression of art there is), and of the artists with recognition in this guild, we can think of few who have had such a profound impact on the medium as Nobuo Uematsu and his work.

The Japanese composer and creator of some of the best video game soundtracks in history, such as Lost Odyssey or the Final Fantasy series, was in Spain recently on the occasion of the San Diego Comic-Con in Malaga, and Gamereactor had the honour of being one of the few media that could interview the master and talk about his work and legacy. A very special interview that you can watch with subtitles below.

Precisely about influences is what we talked the most with Uematsu-san, in addition to him hinting us which is his favourite Final Fantasy. And speaking of the series that made him famous, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask him about what is probably the best-known theme of his entire oeuvre, Sephiroth's theme in Final Fantasy VII, "One Winged Angel". Our colleague David Caballero asked him directly if there were influences of Carmina Burana (by Carl Orff) or even Jimi Hendrix, and indeed, we were partly right:

"Yes, it's more like Carmina Burana, or Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring". [With "One Winged Angel"] I was wondering, 'what would happen if Jimi Hendrix wrote a piece for orchestra?"

So you know, even the masters had masters who influenced our best-known video game music. Had you noticed something of Jimi Hendrix's style before when listening to Sephiroth's theme in Final Fantasy VII?