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Tsuyoshi Sekito
BiographyThis biography was written by Z-Freak exclusively for use at Square Enix Music Online. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission, as this is a violation of copyright. Tsuyoshi Sekito was born on April 3rd, 1963, at Osaka. Unfortunately, no official information regarding his musical influences and general interests is known, though his works clearly reveal that rock artists and guitarists influenced him. He joined the Konami Kukeiha Club in 1986 and composed for a good deal of popular games, like Metal Gear 2 (alongside Masahiro Ikariko), Space Manbow, and SD Snatcher on the MSX computer in 1990. He even composed for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Manhattan Missions on the Nintendo in 1991 and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 the same year. Though Sekito went directly to SquareSoft after he quit Konami in 1995, he didn't compose on any games until 1998. His debut work, the score for Brave Fencer Musashi (aka Brave Fencer "Musashiden"), turned out to comprise of mostly simple music but featured battle tracks that were a class of their own. A two disc score featuring 78 tracks, it was a remarkably large achievement for a relatively new composer. Later on in 1998, Sekito composed the score Chocobo's Dungeon (aka Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon 2) with Kumi Tanioka, Yasuhiro Kawakami, and Kenji Ito. Mostly focusing on battle themes, he did rehash some styles from Brave Fencer Musashi here. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing and his contributions certainly darkened an otherwise light score. After proving himself as a composer, he took on his first arranging work for SquareSoft in 1999. Here, he arranged Yasunori Mitsuda's and Nobuo Uematsu's work for the music of the FMV sequences in the PlayStation remake of Chrono Trigger. One of the series that Sekito has contributed the most to is the All Star Pro-Wrestling series. The first score released was All Star Pro-Wrestling in 2000, where he composed with Kenichiro Fukui and Kumi Tanioka. Though no album was released for the game, three bonus tracks from the score, composed by Sekito and Fukui, were featured on the All Star Pro-Wrestling II Original Soundtrack. Though it is likely that Fukui and Sekito became friends at Konami, where they were both employed, this was their first official collaboration and set precedent to their collaborations in much bigger scores. The soundtrack for All Star Pro-Wrestling II otherwise saw Sekito go solo and he proved his affinity to rock on an even greater level than before. Unfortunately, Sekito's and Fukui's score for All Star Pro-Wrestling III, which was released in 2003, did not get an Original Soundtrack, presumably because of the fallout after DigiCube's bankruptcy. Sekito's first work for the Final Fantasy series came in 2002, when he was given the task of performing a guitar duet of "Jecht's Theme" with Satoshi Akamatsu. Soon after, he was given the task of creating "Go Dream" for feel/Go dream - Yuna & Tidus, a tribute album for Final Fantasy X. This was Sekito's Final Fantasy year, as he was given his third role during 2002's fall: rearranging Nobuo Uematsu's entire score of Final Fantasy II, which was created nearly 15 years earlier. These arrangements were made for the sake of the release of Final Fantasy Origins, which was a remake of Final Fantasy and Final Fantasy II intended to give Americans and Europeans a taste of where the Final Fantasy series originated from. These arrangements were all released in the Final Fantasy & Final Fantasy II Original Soundtrack, together with Nobuo Uematsu's arrangements of his own score for Final Fantasy. Though dreadfully underused at Square Enix in the past, Sekito's opportunities really opened up when he joined The Black Mages. Set up in February 2003, the band has six members — Michio Okamiya (Guitar), Tsuyoshi Sekito (Guitar), Kenichiro Fukui (Keyboards), Keiji Kawamori (Bass Guitar), Arata Hanyuda (Drums), and Nobuo Uematsu (Organ). They have produced two albums to date, The Black Mages and The Black Mages 2 ~The Skies Above~, which featured Sekito's, Fukui's, and Okamiya's arrangements of various battle themes by Uematsu from the Final Fantasy series. They have also featured on the Dark Chronicle Premium Arrange and released a DVD of a live concert. Indeed, as both an arranger and guitarist for the hugely popular group, Sekito's work was undoubtedly going to achieve popular recognition. As well as The Black Mages, Sekito has also appeared in the Star Onions band, which was responsible for a concert on the Final Fantasy Chains of Promathia Special Night on 11 September, 2004. They were responsible for performing six tracks from Final Fantasy XI and Final Fantasy XI Rise of the Zilart. The Star Onions band originally comprised of Tanioka and Hidenori Iwasaki on piano, Tsuyoshi Sekito on guitar, and Naoshi Mizuta on bass guitar, though has been extensively modified after they reunited to create the Final Fantasy XI - Music from the Other Side of Vana'diel arranged album and perform at the FFXI Summer Carnival 2005 on August 27. The arranged album features ten performances from The Star Onions and guest performers, with Sekito being the lead guitarist. Being a member of two groups for Square Enix is clearly a proud testament to Sekito's awesome ability with both the electric and acoustic guitar. 2005 is set to be Sekito's biggest year to date, and at least five albums have been or will be released featuring him. The first of these is the score for Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song- Original Soundtrack, where Sekito worked alongside Ito. He was mostly responsible for arranging the score's battle themes in a rock style, and his arrangements are widely considered to be the best on the soundtrack. As well as this, he was designated one piece of his own to compose, "Isthmus Castle Raid," and was also featured as a guitarist on 13 tracks. Soon after, the score for Hanjuku Heroes 4 ~7 Hanjuku Heroes~ was released. Though not as large as his previous role, the score featured two original compositions from him, both of which appear to be battle themes. In addition, it featured two of his own arrangements of Nobuo Uematsu's work, including a pleasant arrangement of Final Fantasy II's "Castle Pandemonium," which he had arranged in a different style three years earlier for Final Fantasy Origins. As well as the Star Onions album, Sekito is known to be working on Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children in a composing and arranging role alongside Nobuo Uematsu, Kenichiro Fukui, and Keiji Kawamori. In addition, the score for Front Mission Online, which will be released towards the end of the year, will feature Tsuyoshi Sekito's of Ryo Yamazaki's and Hidenori Iwasaki's work. If his arrangements retain the flair of those from Romancing SaGa -Minstrel Song-, this score will be one that is definitely worth picking up. It is no surprise that Sekito continues to be one of Square Enix's biggest stars: With a solid foundation in music at Konami, Sekito has only become more versatile since he joined Square, and, with the conception of The Black Mages, new possibilities certainly opened up to him. Ten years since he first joined, he is now getting bigger roles than ever and looks set to continue growing in status for some time to come. List of Game ProjectsNote: This list only includes games that the composer has actively worked on, so those games that feature reprises of the composer's work from older titles are not included. Key: C = Composer, A = Arranger, P = Performer, S = Sound Programmer, E = Sound Effects, M = Synthesizer Operator
List of AlbumsOriginal Scores
Arranged Albums
Other Albums
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