Since the passing of Sir Terry Pratchett in 2015, I have craved more and more Discworld media to absorb. Not that we weren’t spoiled for reading material by the great man himself. There is nothing like being transported to Ankh-Morpork on a rainy night or the Ramtop mountains at the crack of dawn. Terry’s work is, and will always be, my purest comfort reading, and it hurts even now to know there wont be anymore books, no more fresh windows in to that beautiful, chaotic man.
That being said, in terms of media, we have had a few bits and bobs that brought a smile to my face, from the Sky TV adaptations (I still watch the Hogfather every Hogswatch) to BBC Radio play adaptations of select books.
And, of course, we have been further “spoiled” in the past few years. From the animated adaptation of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents (which I rather enjoyed) to the BBC America TV adaptation of which I will not speak. And of course the extremely entertaining and faithful adaptation of Troll bridge by Snowgum Films which can be found here.
Now, that’s all well and good, but today we are going to talk about a form of media that doesn’t usually get talked about in relation to Discworld. Music. (Specifically I will be enclosing links to Spotify, however I am sure alternatives are available)
Now, If you’re a die-hard fan like me, you’ve probably at least heard of the album “Wintersmith” by Steeleye Span even if you haven’t listened to it. Great album featuring Terry himself and definitely worth a listen. But that album naturally focuses more on The Witches.
So Adam, I hear you ask, what about a more general Discworld music collection? Well there is an answer.
I give you the Album “Tales From The Disc” by Louie Zong.
To quote his Spotify “About the Artist” – “Louie is an illustrator who also happens to make music every once in a while. And here it is! Congratulations, you’ve found it.”
I adore Louie’s work, I first discovered his animations on Tumblr, and now every Halloween I hunt down his “Ghost Duet” series of animations. Imagine the shock and joy I felt when I found a collection of Discworld-inspired music. My Personal favorite is “It’s The Harvest Dance, Bill Door!”, mostly for that little riff towards the end that never fails to make me grin.
When I envision a Discworld MMORPG, I can hear Louie’s music playing in the background.