Michiko Naruke

Michiko Naruke
Origin	Japan
Genres	VGM, Techno, J-Pop
Occupations	Composer
Instruments	Keyboards, congas
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Antinos, SPE Visual Works, Movic, King
Website	Sasakure.net

Michiko Naruke (なるけ みちこ, Naruke Michiko^?) is a Japanese video game music composer, well-known for her work in the Wild Arms series.

Composing career

She used to work for Telenet Japan and Riot, but many people who worked for these two companies left, and along with Naruke, later started working for Media.Vision. She has composed music for games outside of the Wild ARMs series, such as Psycho Dream on the Super Famicom and the Tenshi no Uta series on the PC Engine. While it has been speculated that Naruke composed under the psudonym "Hassy" for the @MIDI albums, the composer herself has stated that Hassy is a separate individual.^[1]

She has made a number of songs for Media.Vision's Wild ARMs series. Occasionally, the main theme and ending theme of the Wild ARMs songs will contain lyrics, formerly being sang by Machiko Watanabe and Kaori Asoh. Most recently, for the tenth anniversary, a new vocalist has been introduced, Nana Mizuki. Her compositions in the Wild ARMs series include her signature whistling parts, whistled by Naoki Takao. Naruke has composed more than 400 songs for the Wild ARMs series. However, during the development of Wild ARMs: The 4th Detonator, Naruke fell ill, marking the first time in the Wild ARMs series that she did not compose the entire soundtrack.

Possible inspirations

Naruke's music has an old-western feel to it, using guitars, whistling, banjos, harmonicas, et cetera. Because several of her melodies are taken from classic old-western film soundtracks (such as The Ecstasy of Gold), it is possible that one of her musical inspirations is Ennio Morricone. The fact that she has two memorial items from two composers implies that other inspirations were Jerrald King Goldsmith and Johann Sebastian Bach.

In an interview for Wild ARMs: Piece of Tears, Naruke revealed items which she values, including her keyboard and rhythm machine, a pamphlet of Jerry Goldsmith, a figure of Kurokishi from "Gingaman", an original score of Bach, and a memorial vinyl disc.

Musicians

Recurring musicians

• Female Voice: Machiko Watanabe, Kaori Asoh, Nana Mizuki
• Chorus & Whistle: Naoki Takao
• Chorus: Shin'ichi Naruke
• Guitars: Yoshiharu Izutsu

Kanako Ito's Orchestra

• 1st Violins: Kanako Ito, Emiko Hagino, Takayuki Oshigane, Masako Hamada, Mie Murao, Makiko Yamamoto
• 2nd Violins:Hiroki Muton, Kazuo Watanabe, Izumi Hisanaga, Miyoko Tsubuku
• Violas: Rieko Kouno, Makoto Motoi
• Cellos: Toshihiko Tsuchida, Hajime Terai
• Trumpets: Eric Miyashiro, Koji Nishimura
• Trombones: Satoshi Sano, Mitsuaki Uchida
• Oboe: Toru Himeno

Discography

• Valis III Original Soundtrack [1990] (co-composer)
• Tenshi no Uta [1991] (co-composer with Shinobu Ogawa)
• Psycho Dream [1992]
• Tenshi no Uta 2: Datenshi no Sentaku [1993] (composer)
• Tenshi no Uta: Shiroki Tsubasa no Inori [1994] (co-composer with Motoi Sakuraba)
• Wild ARMs Original Game Soundtrack [1996]
• Wild ARMs DRAMA vol. 1 [1998] (composer)
• Wild ARMs: 2nd Ignition Original Soundtrack [1999]
• Wild ARMs: Advanced 3rd Original Soundtrack [2002]
• alone the world: Wild ARMs Vocal Collection [2002] (composer)
• WILD ARMS: 2nd IGNITION ORIGINAL DRAMA [2002] (composer)
• WILD ARMS: Advanced 3rd ORIGINAL DRAMA [2002] (composer)
• The Elegy of the Battle [2003] (original composer for track 8)
• Wild ARMs: Alter Code: F Original Score [2004]
• Wild ARMs: the 4th Detonator Original Score [2005] (co-composer)
• Wild Arms Complete Tracks [2006]
• Wild ARMs Music the Best -feeling wind- [2006] (composer)
• Wild ARMs Music the Best -rocking heart- [2006](composer)
• FM Sound Module Maniax [2006] (co-composer, arranger)
• Wild ARMs: the Vth Vanguard Original Score vol. 1 [2006] (co-composer)
• Wild ARMs XF: Crossfire [2007] (original composer, lyrist)
• Super Smash Bros. Brawl [2007] (arranger: "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Medley", "Bramble Blast")
• RIZ-ZOAWD (co-composer with Hitoshi Sakimoto)^[2]
• Nora to Toki no Kōbō: Kiri no Mori no Majo [2011] (composer)

References

1. ^ "I have an idea of who Hassy might be," says the composer, referring to the pseudonym attributed to her on Wikipedia. "I think we might have even worked together a long time ago." Jeriaska (2008-12-20). "Michiko Naruke's Wild Arms, From Console to Stage". RPGFan. http://www.rpgfan.com/features/naruke-interview/index.html. Retrieved 2008-12-25. 
2. ^ Michiko Naruke and Hitoshi Sakimoto working on new DS RPG

External links

• Official Website (Japanese language)
• Artist profile at OverClocked ReMix
• Michiko Naruke discography at MusicBrainz
• Wild ARMs Homepage

Persondata
Name	Naruke, Michiko
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