Saturday Note’s Alright #3 – Korobeiniki

An iconic puzzle game needs an iconic soundtrack, and none comes more iconic than Theme A from Tetris, you know, the original one on the Game Boy?  Of course you do.  It’s an instrumental of an old Russian folk song, known as “Korobeiniki” and you know what, it kicks ass.

To show you how much it kicks ass, I trawled the depths of the internet to find this link to show it to you.  Seriously, It took aaaaaages to get it, so you better appreciate it, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmCCQxVBfyM .

Ah, memories of the Motherland, squat-dancing and swigging copious amounts of vodka come to mind when I hear it, also moving blocks and eliminating lines and lines of completed, er, lines.

Probably the most iconic of puzzle game themes, even though it’s Russian (Cold War’s over, guys, let it go), which suits Alexey Pazhitnov’s addictively simple, yet fiendishly difficult puzzler.  I could listen to Korobeiniki all day long, making it a part of my everyday life, because there’s no task you can do that’s not enhanced by this Russian folk tune.

The tune comprises 2 parts: the basic awesome melody line, backed up by some funky drum-and-bassitude, and the drawn-out breakdown featuring longer notes and culminating in the little scale upwards and back to the start.  It’s perfect for looping, which makes it an ideal base for music composition and it’s featured quite frequently in the more niche dance and rock scenes.  Plus you’ll find about a million and one different versions of it on YouTube.

I could say more, but I’d be waffling more than I have done, so, yeah.  Go play Tetris, or at least stick Korobeiniki on.
“Do do de do do de do do de do do di de do do do do do doooo.”