Peter Hollens and Malukah have once again combined their powers of musical excellence to perform a duet cover of the Civilization IV intro song, “Baba Yetu,” which was originally composed by Christopher Tin and is the first video game theme to ever be nominated for and win a Grammy award. The duo previously performed vocals on The Banner Saga soundtrack.
I’ve never played Civ IV, but I know the song previously from the awesome Video Games Live concert albums. Amazingly, I think I like this cover even more than the big orchestral original. There’s just something more personal about it. I also love the way the video is presented using the Brady Bunch windowed effect, as it shows the two artists performing all the different parts of the song like a full choir and orchestra. Check it out:
In addition to the YouTube music video, Peter Hollens and Malukah’s rendition of “Baba Yetu” is available to buy from iTunes, Loudr and Spotify. You’ll be downloading the song immediately after watching the video, trust me on that. I bought it myself and have it ready to add to my MP3 player the next time I sync.
Coincidentally, Civilization IV the game just went on sale as part of a 2K Games publisher weekend sale.
Matt Litten is the full-time editor and owner of VGBlogger.com. He is responsible for maintaining the day to day operation of the site, editing all staff content before it is published, and contributing regular news, reviews, previews and other articles.
Matt landed his first gig in the video game review business writing for the now-defunct website BonusStage.com. After the sad and untimely close of BonusStage, the former staff went on to found VGBlogger.com. After a short stint as US Site Manager for AceGamez, Matt assumed full ownership over VGBlogger, and to this day he is dedicated to making it one of the top video game blogs in all the blogosphere.
Matt is a fair-minded reviewer and lover of games of all platforms and types, big or small, hyped or niche, big-budget or indie. But that doesn't mean he will let poor games slide without a good thrashing when necessary! 
