tapha-niang
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LittleBigPlanet 1.02 patch removes Qur'an lyrics
Ah, that's more like it, innit? The LittleBigPlanet patch we knew was coming, but didn't -- well, until today -- is out in Europe. And now we can put this mess behind us ... once we get the game. Please. Now! The 1.02 patch removes the lyrics from Toumani Diabaté's "Tapha Niang," muffling any questionable references to the Qur'an -- the song will apparently remain in the game as an instrumental track. While the topic has been debated to death this week (even by the artist himself), Sony clearly erred on the side of caution, likely burning untold millions of discs -- and dollar bills! -- in the process. But hey, at least the company still has Phil's vote. That's gotta count for something, right? Game on!
Inside the LBP delay: A Grammy award-winning artist's 2006 song
As SCEE vaguely put it, "one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game" is the cause of LittleBigPlanet's -- now worldwide -- delay. So which track is it? Well, the song is "Tapha Niang" from the 2006 album Boulevard de l'Independance by Grammy award-winning Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté (and it's available on iTunes, both Zune and Amazon marketplaces, and we imagine just about any place popular world music is sold). You can even listen to the track in its entirety on Toumani's MySpace page.From the brief research we've done (um ... Wikipedia), we have yet to find evidence to suggest "Tapha Niang" (or any Toumani Diabaté production for that matter) has been criticized for possible religious offenses prior to today's development. In fact, a profile published by Taipei Times describes Toumani Diabaté as "a devout Muslim, with his own prayer room next to his office."While the backstory seems to indicate "Tapha Niang" was a tasteful, if not highly regarded selection for LBP's soundtrack, the reality is Sony is beginning a process to remove the song's inclusion from the game. With Church of England's beef still fresh in memory, Sony's no doubt playing this one safe as can be. Sorry SackBoy, but you've been benched.[Thanks to cc123 for providing the starting block for our research!]
Listen to the 'controversial' LittleBigPlanet song: Tapha Niang
Like many of you, we're wondering if Sony's response to the song "Tapha Niang," included in the LittleBigPlanet soundtrack is a little harsh. Toumani Diabaté and the Symmetric Orchestra is known for combining the traditional music of Mali with other internation styles, like jazz, blues and flamenco. The international sound would be appropraite for a game like LittleBigPlanet, which takes players on a virtual journey around the globe. Diabaté won a Grammy award in 2006, the same year "Tapha Niang" was released.His MySpace page has the entire song available to listen to, and amazon.com has a DRM-free version available to purchase. (iTunes users can listen to/purchase the song here.) It's surprising that a song, which has been available for over two years, is only now receiving controversial attention for its inclusion in Sony's blockbuster PS3 game. Perhaps if Sony didn't delay this game, this matter wouldn't have exploded to such incredible proportions?
