This arrangement of Gruntilda's Lair from Banjo-Kazooie is the most ambitious piece of music I've ever tackled. I was assigned the track for a bigger project in 2011, but it was made to stand alone also as a medley that takes a tour through the lair and every world entry, akin to Disney's "It's a Small World". As such, it's a dynamic composition with movements that reflect over a dozen different musical genres, complete with melody cameos from every world, original content, and even soundscape elements. This grand mixture is what inspired the use of the French word 'mélange'.

Beginning on the Roland Fantom X6, each part eventually was transferred over to the Roland FA-06. However, many instruments were not up to par even then, so several live performers were going to be brought on board to strengthen the presentation. However, just this year, I procured a Yamaha Genos2. Its superior samples replaced many of the weaker instruments, but not all of them. And so, even in terms of tools of the trade, this arrangement is a mixture. I'm pleased to have finished what I started over 14 years ago. Please enjoy this labour of love!

I highly recommend watching the related video for full context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcV3n9bYJcE

Disclaimer:

Royalty-free sound effects sources:

https://www.freesound.org

https://pixabay.com/sound-effects/

https://soundbible.com

Images were provided by the Banjo-Kazooie Wiki.

Banjo-Kazooie styled text customised from the "Lithograph" font.

Banjo-Kazooie is copyright of Microsoft RARE, Ltd. under Microsoft Corporation.

Gruntilda ("Grunty") is a trademark of RARE, Ltd. under Microsoft Corporation.