Analysis of “Who’s Theme” from Samurai Champloo
Nujabes was an influential Japanese hip-hop producer, best known for jazz-hip hop tracks such as “Aruarian Dance” and the “Luv(sic)” hexalogy.
Nujabes is one of my favorite producers, and his soundtrack for Samurai Champloo really elevated the atmosphere of that show. At one point, I was considering doing an a cappella arrangement of his song “Who’s Theme”, so I was listening to it constantly on loop. After a bunch of listens, I realized that the complexity of the song’s instrumental could have a simple explanation. I haven’t found any similar commentaries about this song, so I thought I’d put it out there, and maybe someone can prove me right or wrong about it. I’m talking about the first ten seconds of the track.
My theory is that Nujabes intentionally composed this song so that each melody represents a main character from the show. “Who’s Theme” is, in essence, a sonic portrait of three characters.
Fuu (Sopranos)
The highest and possibly most noticeable part initially is the falsetto voice part (before the lyrics enter), and Fuu’s story of searching for the “samurai who smells of sunflowers” is, in some sense, the main story of Samurai Champloo. The crooning vocals are “supported” by the lower two parts, which fill out the mid-range (maybe representative of the two samurai protecting her.) Note: Even though there’s technically two voices, one is just harmonizing with the other, so I counted them as one melodic part.
Jin (Flute)
Jin is the peacekeeper of the group, mellow and withdrawn. In the song, he is represented by a reed flute which makes sense, given his quiet gracefulness. The flute lies between the other two voice parts; Jin sometimes acts as a mediator between Fuu and Mugen.
Mugen (Piano)
Mugen is a hot-headed renegade who uses a fighting style based on breakdancing. Like him, the piano is anachronistic, sounding more like an old-school hiphop sample than something from the Edo era. It is generally the lowest melodic part; Mugen comes from the lowest part of society. Also, in the last measure, the piano is at odds with the other parts harmonically (the fifth of the C chord clashes with the F# in both Fuu and Jin’s parts.)
Nujabes composed a song in which each instrument is present without being overbearing, a mixture that is cohesive but maintains the independence of its parts. A story in which each character is described without a single spoken word or lyric, with equal focus given to each. It’s all encapsulated in the title itself: “Who’s Theme” is it?
