Avant-guerre

avant-guerre

Song Information

Artist: Osamu Kubota
Composition/Arrangement: Osamu Kubota
BPM: 130-146
Length: 1:57
Genre: CLASSICAL PIANO SOLO
VJ: Daisuke Tanabe, Risa Fujii (りったん), Hideaki Takahashi (ぺりー)
First Music Game Appearance: beatmania IIDX 15 DJ TROOPERS
Other Music Game Appearances: None.

Lyrics

None.

Song Connections / Remixes

None.

Trivia

• avant-guerre marks the first video appearance of Osamu Kubota.
  • It also marks his last appearance to date in beatmania IIDX.
• avant-guerre is one of two beatmania IIDX songs done entirely on a piano, the other being ワルツ第17番 ト短調"大犬のワルツ".
  • It is also one of the few songs in beatmania IIDX that has no scratches.
• avant-guerre's is French for "before the war".

Song Production Information

Osamu Kubota

Near the end of World War I, a pianist received call-up papers from the army.
Refusing to hold a gun against anyone, he attempted to escape, but the military police tracked him down.

Later, remembering his earlier days of happiness, he composed a last song for the piano.
He then prepared himself for battle, preparing himself to fight or to die.

---

This time, I appear in the movie. I was playing so intensely that I completely forgot that there was a camera, so my appearance may be a bit unkempt. The carousel that held the camera rotated around me so much that when I first saw the video, it looked like someone drunk was watching my performance. But I have to cheer for the good camera work.

As far as I know, this is the only IIDX song entirely done on a piano.
When I first talked to DJ Yoshitaka, he requested that I do a piano song, since I was "king of the piano."
At this time, I may make a small studio for my piano playing. I do have plans set up for it.
If it is crowded in the arcade, it may be hard to hear the piano sound, and it may be hard to avoid mistakes.
But at least you can have a change to feel what it is like to be a piano virtuoso like I do.

Play and enjoy!

Video Production Information

Daisuke Tanabe

Hello, this is Daisuke Tanabe. This is my second movie, after in the Sky from beatmania IIDX HAPPY SKY PS2 version and I was happy to participate in this.

Combining the CG work with the live action shots was hard.
Usually, one can Photoshop CG elements onto a movie. However, because of all the camera work stored in the computer, along with the budget constraints, it was a struggle. It was difficult to find places where to add the color CGs. We ended up cutting more out of the movie than I would have wanted, and there was some post-production editing that I wasn't happy with, but overall... I am satisfied with the work.
The whole process, from the beginning to filming to the end, was exciting.

Now, a bit of explanation about the movie.
An understudy of the pianist received a draft card just before the beginning of World War I.
To ease his feelings of torment and pain before his draft day, he played the piano constantly.

The title of the song is in French, meaning before war. I immediately thought of the artwork of World War I.
Remembering the artwork and the music of the time, I conjured up an image of light and darkness, floating, switching between stability and instability, eventually crowding and becoming overwhelming, similar to that in war.
I hope that you appreciate and feel the link between the music and the video.
In the recording of the video, the song contained a lot of sixteenth notes and triplets, as well as lasting over 8 minutes! It was a great time.
If you can, watch the video behind someone who is skilled playing this game, but don't get too close! (laughs)

Another thing to add.
I enjoyed filming Osamu with the camera dolly. Did he say that the rotation of the camera and the dolly made him feel ill? I thought that was a frivolous claim.

I also would like to thank Niatari for his assistance with the camera and the dolly, even though he arrived late, and GYO for his assistance. He was out of breath helping to control the dolly, and was attentive to the details of the CGs.

---

Risa Fujii

As the director of this movie, Tanabe was perfect.

---

Hideaki Takahashi

On the set of the movie, Tanabe had good control of everything.

Difficulty & Notecounts

beatmania IIDX difficulty rated from 1 to 12. (Ratings and notecounts obtained from BEMANIWiki 2nd.)

Game	SP Difficulty					DP Difficulty
	BEGINNER	NORMAL	HYPER	ANOTHER	LEGGENDARIA	NORMAL	HYPER	ANOTHER	LEGGENDARIA
Notecounts	196	390	694	982	390	694	982	{{{8}}}	{{{9}}}
beatmania IIDX 15 DJ TROOPERS→Present	-	4	7	10	5	9	10	{{{9}}}	{{{10}}}
beatmania IIDX 15 DJ TROOPERS CS	2	4	7	10	5	9	10	{{{9}}}	{{{10}}}