Draft:Noriyuki Kamikura
Noriyuki Kamikura | |
|---|---|
上倉 紀行 | |
| Born | April 26, 1980 Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, arranger |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Employer | Basiscape (2006–2011) |
| Musical career | |
| Genres | |
| Instrument(s) | Keyboards, guitar |
Noriyuki Kamikura (上倉 紀行, Kamikura Noriyuki, born April 26, 1980) is a Japanese composer and arranger who has worked on various productions including video games, anime, and concert performances. He was employed by Hitoshi Sakimoto's music production company Basiscape and composed for games such as opoona, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, and Muramasa: The Demon Blade. Since leaving the company in 2011, he has composed for Falcom games such as Ys: Memories of Celceta, and has provided arrangements for games such as Adventures of Mana and Etrian Odyssey Nexus. He was part of Falcom's jdk Band during 2011 to 2015, and is currently part of the SaGa series band DESTINY 8.
Biography
[edit]Kamikura was born into a musical family that owned several keyboard instruments, which led to him developing a natural interest in music. He was also introduced to games from his older brother, and played melodies from games on a piano. He started his musical career while being a student at the music university Senzoku Gakuen, composing songs for television programs and musical groups. After graduating in 2003, he worked at Nippon Columbia.
Kamikura joined Hitoshi Sakimoto's music production company Basiscape in 2006. During his time at Basiscape, he was highly prolific and worked on a variety of titles, including composing for RPGs such as opoona and Muramasa: The Demon Blade, as well as providing orchestrations and arrangements for Valkyria Chronicles and the anime Romeo × Juliet. He also worked with senior Basiscape composer Manabu Namiki on a number of projects, most notably Cave games such as the Deathsmiles and DoDonPachi series. Namiki found it difficult to communicate his ideas with Kamikura and other juniors at Basiscape, due to being older and having different musical tastes.
In 2011, Kamikura left Basiscape to become freelance, wishing to have new experiences and meet new people. After leaving Basiscape, Toshiharu Okajima, a friend he met at university, invited him to join Falcom's jdk Band as a keyboardist. He accepted the offer, performing in both live and studio productions. This also led to him composing and arranging music for Falcom games, such as Ys: Memories of Celceta and The Legend of Heroes: Zero no Kiseki Evolution.
Kamikura has worked on a number of Square Enix games, both as part of Basiscape and as a freelancer. In 2007, he provided arrangements for both Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings and Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, along with other members of Basiscape. This approach was also used for Lord of Vermilion II, whose soundtrack was composed by Sakimoto and arranged by members of Basiscape. He later established a friendship with former Square Enix composer Kenji Ito, and has provided arrangements for his projects, including multiple entries in the SaGa and Mana series. He is also part of the official SaGa series band, DESTINY 8, with both Ito and Kamikura as keyboardists.
In addition to his work on Falcom and Square Enix games, Kamikura has been involved with the Etrian Odyssey series. In 2010, he directed the Super Arrange Version album of Etrian Odyssey III, which features arrangements of the game's music by Basiscape. Following his transition to being a freelancer, he directed the Super Arrange Version album of Etrian Odyssey IV. In addition to himself, the album includes arrangements by Masashi Hamauzu and Ryo Yonemitsu, both of whom he admired before entering the game industry, as well as Yukihiro Jindo whom he met from his Falcom projects, and chiptune artist KPLECRAFT who was his classmate at university. It also marks the debut of the unit c.l.o.u.d., consisting of himself and Okajima. Kamikura later provided arrangements for Etrian Mystery Dungeon 2 and Etrian Odyssey Nexus.