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Desert Stage

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Desert Stage
Various arrangements of "Desert Stage".
Details
Debut appearance Kirby's Dream Land 3 (1997)
Last appearance Kirby: Planet Robobot (2016)
Composer(s) Jun Ishikawa
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"Desert Stage"[Japanese title] is a theme that originated from the game Kirby's Dream Land 3. This 3/4-timed theme has also gotten a remix in Kirby: Planet Robobot, and has also appeared in the Kirby 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert. This theme was originally composed by Jun Ishikawa, a veteran Kirby composer who composed all music in Kirby's Dream Land 3.

Composition[edit]

Running through a deserted stage.

"Desert Stage" is one of few stage themes with a time signature of 3/4. The first beat of each bar is heavily accentuated by percussion. This track plays in mixolydian G major but is tonally unstable, with its different harmonies allowing for frequent modulations. This tonal instability and swaying nature give the track calm and mystical tone to it.

The melody's first phrase, played by a woodwind instrument, rises with dotted rhythm in the first bar while the rest of it descends in smoothly. The phrase repeats with alterations and is followed up by a minor strings segment with a similar melodic pattern. This segment bears similarities in rhythm and melodic movement to the principal motif of "Rainbow Resort". The first segment repeats and concludes with a rising scale littered with accidentals. The middle portion is once again played by the strings, bow in A minor. This part prominently uses 3 note-long rising intonations. The phrase repeats with some variations, and the track loops.

Game appearances[edit]

Kirby's Dream Land 3[edit]

"Desert Stage"can be heard only twice in its original game appearance. It can be heard in the sixth stage of Sand Canyon and the third stage of Iceberg. This theme is the 14th track in the Sound Test.

Kirby: Planet Robobot[edit]

In Kirby: Planet Robobot, a remix this theme can be heard in the fourth stage of Patched Plains. This remix is titled "Green Laboratory", which was composed by another important Kirby composer, Hirokazu Ando. This remix is the 12th track in Kirby Planet Robobot's Jukebox.

In addition, the original version of the theme is used in the extra stage of Rhythm Route.

Other appearances[edit]

This theme was also played in the Kirby 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert, specifically in the "Kirby's Dream Land 3 / Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards Medley". This is the second theme played in the medley, right after "Ripple Field: Ocean Waves".

Names in other languages[edit]

Language Name Meaning
Japanese 砂漠ステージ[1]
Sabaku sutēji
Desert Stage


References

  1. Kirby 25th Anniversary Orchestra Concert pamphlet