Air Ride: Sky Sands
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- This article is about the music track. For the course, see Sky Sands.
Air Ride: Sky Sands[Japanese title] is the theme of the Sky Sands course in Kirby Air Ride. It was composed by Shogo Sakai.
Composition
Sky Sands' theme has a fast-paced rhythm, set at 144 beats per minute in the key of E minor. The song features an eclectic range of instruments: while grounded by acoustic guitar and electric bass, the lead switches between instruments such as shakuhachi and bagpipes, and its percussion primarily consists of a set of tabla drums. It also incorporates a brass section and a male choir. The overall sound of the piece has an "exotic" feeling, without being tied to any region in particular.
Game appearances
Kirby Air Ride
"Air Ride: Sky Sands" makes its first appearance here as the default theme of the course of the same name. As a checklist reward, clearing Sky Sands in Time Attack with a time of less than 3 minutes, 10 seconds will unlock the theme in the Sound Test.
Kirby Mass Attack
A remix of the Sky Sands theme plays in certain stages of Sandy Canyon in Kirby Mass Attack, rearranged by Shogo Sakai. In the Sound Test, this remix is titled Night Desert. Because of the more limited Nintendo DS hardware, it's changed from a CD streamed track to a MIDI sequence; there are some differences in instrumentation as a result, such as replacing the electric bass with an 8-bit square wave. However, the male choir has been retained as a vocal sample.
Other appearances
The song is available on the Japan-only albums The Very Best of Kirby: 52 Hit Tracks and Kirby no Air Ride Shucchou Sound Test.
On The Sound of Kirby Café album, "Air Ride: Sky Sands" is remixed for Track 6, titled やすらぎのオアシス／エアライド:サンドーラ (Peaceful Oasis / Air Ride: Sky Sands). It is once again arranged by Shogo Sakai. The track is now in major key instead of minor, and has a much slower tempo with a bossa nova feeling. It has also been extended with regards to the original melody, including a piano solo.
Names in other languages
| Language | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Japanese | エアライド:サンドーラ Earaido: Sandōra |
Air Ride: Sandoola |
