This is the original chanting version of the Fire Temple music from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was removed in later versions of the game.
Omg, I remember going crazy trying to find where that chanting was coming from as a kid.. Every time it got louder, I assumed I was getting near a room with the men chanting.
+import3dguest All N64 carts had Islamic Moon + Star. That was only removed in GC versions. However, many N64 carts (v1.2) removed the temple chanting.
import3dguest All cartridges have 'chanting' of some kind, but only some early N64 carts have the Islamic chanting, which was replaced by nondescript incomprehensible chanting in later carts and in rereleases.
There are grey cartridges with the red blood, chanting as well as the Gerudo symbols too. The golden pre-order version and the grey cartridges running version 1.0 and 1.1 all have this content.
Honestly I think that's partially what Nintendo was going for. I believe they were trying to transmit what Goron culture had become since Link had disappeared, and because he had disappeared, how dire the needs of the Goron's were at the time.
Yeah, the Gorons fear Volvagia more than anything so the use of chanting actually makes sense. They're praying to anyone to save them from a terrifying fate
@@drwellroundhater422 yeah, the prayer is islamic, but does it really do anyone any harm? I mean it’s most definitely not going to convert anyone to islam 🤣
I'm from Afghanistan, but i envoyed playing Zelda, don't be worry about this song, Japanese dont have notions of discrimination about Muslims people when they have create the game. Peace.
They are saying (La Ilah Ela Allah - لا إلاه إلا الله) Which means "No God but Allah". and then It says (Besmela Al Rahman Al Raheeem Allah Akbar - بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم الله أكبر) Which means "In the name of the most gracious and merciful, Allah is the greatest". In Islam, your destiny is to be in Hell of Fire if you did very bad deeds in your life. You say these phrases to ask for Forgivness from Allah. I believe this soundtrack is very suitable with the Fire Temple. These men screaming the Islamic Enchants asking good for forgivness from Allah which is punishing them by letting them burn in hell. I believe these men joined Ganondorf's attack on Hyrule when they were alive and died and now they are facing their judgment and asking for forgiveness which gives the fire temple a huge twist and meaning.
Thats a cool interpretation. I understand why they changed it, but i honestly like when games take inspiration from real world mythologies and languages to add depth
The first chanting seems more like the sample being chopped and remixed, as for the second part it is Bismillahi Ar-Rahman Ar Raheem and the beginning of Surat Al Ikhlass, (Qulhu Allah)
The game doesn't imply that though. Ganondorf has revived the Dragon and the Gorons resisted him and he trapped them and plans to feed them to the dragon to show the rest of the world what will/can happen to them if they also try resisting. I like this part of the game because not only are you saving the Gorons, one by one, but you're also obtaining a legendary hammer to defeat a legendary ancient dragon and really foil Ganondorfs plan of using said Dragon to rule with an iron fist. As a Christian, I like the chanting. Makes me think the Gorons are Muslim and praying lol. Adds another layer to this dire dark dungeon/situation.
It was on a CD of voice samples for industrial use. He had no idea what it was, he just thought it sounded cool and wanted to experiment with sampling. He used some samples from the same CD in Super Mario 64.
I had no idea this was a thing. The Fire Temple music I'm used to was always creepy to me but this is way more creepy than that. Makes me think that the prisoner Gorons are praying to their god to help them or something. Damn it's so spooky.
True and the manner that the Gorons are curled up is like the way Muslims prostrate so odds are they are praying to their God or Gods for Link to save them from being devoured
I think they were trying to find a chant that fitted the culture and in many ways the gorons have a very middle Eastern culture. So they sourced some sound from a Muslim prayer and used it as a chant. The funny thing is The chant isn't actually from a prayer but it's a creed you say when converting to islam and it's also weird why they included star and moon symbols and don't get me wrong I'm not offended or anything I'm just confused as the moon and star symbol have nothing to do with the story, lore or game. My best guess is that the creater really liked the culture and probably thought it suited the old time this game is set in.
I remember reading about this being changed in an issue of Nintendo Power. I grew up with this version and it always scared me, but I still like it way better than the edited version. I'd always sing it as 'Annie ocarinaia' lol.
Pedro Burset See i'm not really sure... I got my copy for Christmas way back when the game launched in 1998. I know for a fact that my cartridge was NOT gold. I think those were new versions released a few years later..without the chants... I know cause I have one. I would make sure the manufacturing year is 1995 (Or whatever the M with the circle around it means) and you might have a good shot at getting one with the original chants. Also make sure it's not gold.
Pedro Burset hrmmm im guessing some were maybe gold... but damn that has to be rare to find a gold cartridge with the original track in it. I have one of the gold ones... played through it as well but it doesn't have the chants... at least I don't think it does lol... im gonna have to bust out the old N64 again and check it out.
Yeah I had the gold cartridge edition of OOT. This was the music. Didn’t find out until recently that they changed it. This was even more creepy than the Forest Temple.
***** Well it really wasnt them, they didnt actually cause them to remove it, nintendo removed it on their own, look up a vid on it, they changed it to prevent problems, maybe some people did but they had already taken care of it.
Yes I agree it was amazing, knowing Muslim people myself and their upbeat attitudes, I have a feeling they would be happy their culture was put into one of the best games ever made. Beautiful music.
I knew it, people pretend Muslims are offended while they are not. There is likely some of ou who got offended but it's a minority. It's weird, there is no problem to spam video games with Christianic references, prays, quotes or songs. As Christian, I just don't care and even, I think it's very interesting. But I'm sure there is some Christians who don't like religious references too. However, it's not big deal, they keep spamming Christianic stuff and keep censoring Muslim stuff. Just why ? Pfff, that world...
The probable reason why it was removed is because of the line that translates to "There is no God but Allah", which not only steps over Nintendo's policy of promoting religions, but is a statement intolerant of anything that isn't Islam. Also there's supposed to be no sound during the prayer.
The reason this was taken out (to those who didn't know why) was because Nintendo of America had a policy where anything related to religion and politics weren't allowed in the games. Also there is supposed to be no sound during the prayer.
That actually was not the real reason surprisingly. It was because the 1.2 version was a more polished build I believe. That for some reason removed the chant.
A lot of people think it was because of backlash after the game's release, but all builds were in development at the same time, and the only learned it was religious imagery when the original build was too far in to change, so they took it out in later builds and just sold the original as is. I actually bought an original cart used on amazon a few years back so I have the original song and mirror shield.
It's prohibited in islam to mix an Islamic verse from the quran with music, although this is only the shahada, اشهد ال لا الله which in English means I bear witness there is no god but Allah. It falls in a weird grey area, But Saudi Arabia basically took action, so this version of the fire temple theme has been removed.
Man the chanting always got to me as a kid when i played this, it really added to the idea of the Gorons being imprisoned and begging for you to help them
in middle eastern culture it was believed that Chants were used to summon the djinn, so maybe you were scared into thinking you were going to fight a djinn at the end of the temple LOL
@@yalkn2073 you must be atheist then. Seems perfectly normal to me. Only weird thing for me is the game is rated E. Should probably be T with the original versions
So a lot of misinformation about this versions removal is apparent so I wanna make this post to clear some things up. This version was in 1.0 cartridges an 1.1 cartridges of the game. If you want to know what version you have look at the back of your cartridge. I believe just numbers means it's a 1.0 build. Numbers and a single letter mean 1.1 and numbers and two letters means 1.2 if you want to go into specifics 1.0 and 1.1 builds of the game feature various differences from the 1.2 build of the game. This and other imagery is one of them. In 1.2 builds of the game the crescent moon and star on the mirror shield was changed as the blocks wouldn't be changed until the gamecube rerelease, a preorder bonus for Wind Waker. (The 3ds remake also uses the rereleased version). Now the story behind this is simple. The music director wanted chanting for the song and found the sample on a cd (can't remember the exact name atm) and without knowing it was a muslim chant used it, before the games release it was realized it was a religious chant and changed for 1.2 builds, however because sales figures don't lie, 1.0 and 1.1 builds were tossed out as well for more marketing leading to some kids experiencing this music and some with the changed music. The biggest clearance that needs to be put to rest is the theory that it was removed due to backlash, this is not true. It's worth noting that this same sample was used in a racing game two months prior to OOT's release and no one said anything about it then. It was out of fear of backlash and Nintendo's strict no religion policy, this is why the crescent moon and star were removed as well due to them being apart of religious figures. Hope this information helps since a lot of misinformation goes around about this stuff.
@@KingKhan-xw7vq No, they were intentional designs of the blocks and shield. It wasn't until much later in development that they realized it was a religious figure. Same with the chanting, other differences include Ganondorfs blood being Red instead of Green. These changes were made to fit with Nintendos policies. But again, cause sales don't lie they threw out 1.0/1.1 copies of the game although 1.2 is the most common to find. You can still download a rom of the 1.0 version to experience the initial release since 1.0 was the first to be let out on shelves, but not for long.
Ex girlfriend "lost" my cart that included this after we broke up. Still mad to this day knowing she's probably got it hidden somewhere. Can't imagine the fire temple without it.
+ռǟʀʊȶօ - ӄʊռ I think many people say Allah to purposefully distance Islam from Christianity. Allah sounds "foreign and scary". Jews, Christians and Muslims all worship the same god.
I'm a Muslim and I understand the problems of including religious chants and symbols in video games. And the verses in this audio are very significant verses in Islam so some people might not have liked it. But nonetheless I think this is really cool. And as a Zelda fan myself I would've probably enjoyed this more than the actual fire temple music. Would've been really cool to hear something you know in your favorite video game. Edit: If it's the Gorons praying then I guess this makes them canonically Muslims, lol 😅
I'm a muslim, I find this cool, I never had the original release Zelda ocarina of time, so missed this praising of Allah being played in the background . In fact don't think anyone complained , I think Nintendo like to keep games simple without religion, thus they removed the cross from links shield from the 80s Zelda game etc .
@@ooshtoosht1695 I don't know if this comment is the actual translation, but the song's Arabic chants do have meaning, & can be translated into English. The original sample that Nintendo used a portion of can VERY clearly be heard saying Allah.
I have this version and as a kid, it helped immerse me more. it helped it feel like a very spiritual place. I liked it; most of the dungeons are called "Temples" so it made sense
that's fair, but you gotta remember this is real people's faith being used as scary atmospheric BGM here. it'd be pretty disrespectful if they had done it on purpose.
@@dummyyogurt5375 i'm not saying this to mean they should've kept it this way. im glad they changed it. i was just recounting my experiences and thought process hearing it as a kid.
As a boy of 10 who was always paranoid, I played my Mom's old version of the game and it has this chanting. I remember arriving at this temple late into the night while playing. Afterwards I sat with my eyes wide open, terrified, checking every little noise, and movement. I or my family had no idea of its religious background (and I hope I didn't offend anyone), but now that I listen to it again, it really is kind of awesome.
if anyone is wondering what is said, it's in arabic and there are 3 verses : "and grace is to God (Allah)" repeated, then "and his is judgement" as in to judge who goes to hell (link lol), and finally "in the name of god (allah) the most merciful"
So glad everyone is in agreement this song is much more mysterious, haunting, and beautiful with the chanting. I played OOT on the 3DS and that Fire Temple song just wasn't the same.
This song was amazing. First time playing the game I thought it was the Gorons crying for help. Then after I beat the temple if thought it was volvagia then later decided it sounds nothing like it.Then I decided its the chants of the those whose souls remain in the temple thanks to the wicked that is Volvagia.
Well the chants are actually Muslim prayer that they accidently sourced. Then men your hearing in the background are supposed to be Muslim men saying the creed to convert to sualma apparently. They took this out in later versions as nintendo has a policy of showing no religion or politics in games
as a muslim i don't agree, mixing religious words with a game is disrespectful, i understand that you find it atmospheric with the atmosphere of this temple but when you are muslim and you hear that, we have the impression that we are laughing at our religion
@@kenza6131 "mixing religious words with a game is disrespectful" Well _I_ disagree. I can see how you'd find it disrespectful, but I don't see how it is. If I remember correctly it's just some dude saying the usual "god is great" prayer so would it really be any different then if they used any other religious prayer? Like some dude saying "Bless us heavenly father, for we recognize your greatness as our lord. In Jesus' holy name I pray, amen." Would it still be disrespectful if they used _that_ prayer? Or is it only disrespectful because they used a prayer from _your_ religion? The only difference I see between the two prayers is the second wouldn't be as cool and atmospheric to the temple unless it was said in a melodic chant.. "When you are Muslim and you hear that, we have the impression that we are laughing at our religion" So.. when you hear religious Muslim chants in a video game soundtrack, you get the impression that you are laughing at your religion? Or did you mean "We have the impression that You are laughing at our religion" because if so then I'm sorry you feel that way. But I assure you we're not. No one is laughing at hearing your religions prayer in a video game or real life, except for, probably, racists.
@@kenza6131 do you think they would have given Christians the same courtesy? It's amazing that the world wars against my faith, but caters to every other religion so that they aren't viewed as intolerant...
I still have the original and play this when I can. My first wife, who is a Native American, said it spooked her out because it sounded to her like it was a dark powwow chant. Nevertheless, it’s one of the best games of all time, right next to Twilight Princess.
@Loai Alghamdi He does not understand the Muslim faith. The better question is, why should you consider it as music to enjoy. Its just a prayer. Prayer can be used in anything. Its up to you whether to enjoy it as music or perceive it as a prayer.
The Islamic chant heard in the original Fire Temple theme from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (previous to the revision), was first used in the music track 'Cairo Cruis'n' for the Egypt race track in the Nintendo 64 version of Cruis'n World. The chant comes from a sound library collection called "Voice Spectral - Volume 1" released by 'Best Service'.
This is why the Fire Temple is my all time favorite. It sets the mood incredibly well, especially due to the circumstances. You alone are in the fiery depths of the Fire Temple surrounded by nothing but molten death, trying to save the remaining Goron's who face extinction threatened to be fed to the ancient dragon while that said dragon is capable of escaping into Hyrule to burn it into a wasteland leaving naught left, all while trying to hurry to your "sworn brother" who faces Volvagia alone to buy you time to save his people. The chants are a nice touch as you can think of the Goron's either praying to their God's in their final hour, or that they are trying to calm the inferno demon in its fit of rage before literally all hell breaks loose onto Hyrule. Or maybe the chants are just remnants of the gods that once use to reside withing the sacred temple, now their words just echoing throughout the once holy grounds. Whatever Nintendo's intentions may be for it, you can't deny it suits the Fire Temple's atmosphere perfectly. I wish I still had my gold cartridge... Had to download an emulator to play through it just how it was originally intended to be.
as a kid this chant always threw me off the game, mostly because my brain automatically dedicated processing power into deciphering what on earth was being said.
From what I can hear the chant says Sal Allahu alaihi wa alik at the very beginning which means, May the honor and blessings of Allah (God) be upon him, referring to the prophet Muhammad, followed by la ilaha ill Allah (There is no god other than Allah) then says Bismillah ir Rahman ir Rahim (In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful) and Allahu akbar (God is the Greatest) in that order and finishes it with another la ilaha ill Allah. Hope this helps inshallah (God willing) Peace. :)
***** having seen videos of the meaning and the explanations here made me like the song even more. but i get the point. ***** being from another culture and having a set of beliefs not very far from yours(catholic-based but mixed in with my own other beliefs) makes me realize god is everywhere and in each of us, even in our actions and creations. and i believe that a being so omniscient to be everyone of us at the same time does not care about that. enjoy or not, that is up to humans. but again. i get the point.
@@kd9-3.77no it actually went against the Nintendo’s TOS of not incorporating Religion or Religious themes, maybe do research before throwing sh#t at the fan, as for the french artist he had it coming, he was bigoted and was actively mocking islam nothing compared to this.
Well I'm not one to disrespect someone's religion, but damn this sounds cool. It really fits the temple's aesthetic. Games should make more music like this; but use chanting in another language, of course.
What intrigues me more is the identity of the one singing those chants. Who is he, is he still alive, when was it recorded & does/did he know that his voice has forever been immortalized into a CD pack filled with random sounds & through that (for a while) into the game itself. And the fact that audio is compressed just gives it that kind of eerie but interestingly comforting feeling? Who knows.
The identity of the person chanting we'll probably never know, other than they were a Muslim that probably allowed himself to be recorded for a public sound library that could be used in other mediums. (unless they were somehow unaware they were being recorded) As for when, it must have been around the mid-90s, as that's when the public sound library this was taken from was released. I'd have to look up its name again, in case there are any credits there
For those curious, the Islamic chanting is from an audio library called "Voice Spectral: Volume 1". Koji Kondo sampled "Volks #2", didn't know it was of Muslim scripture, and unintentionally took it out of context for the track. He was later notified about it, and rushed together an edited version that replaces the chanting with a MIDI choir. This version would be used in subsequent revisions of Ocarina of Time, as well as the two remakes. Yeah. Oof.
"Oof" my ass. Muslims are the only religious group who would take offense to this sort of thing. If Kondo had instead used some obscure sample of Pentecostal chanting, I doubt anyone would have had an issue. I respect people's right to their religious beliefs, but let's not pretend Muslims aren't one of the most censorious and easily offended religions out there. A lot of them unironically believe that violence and even death are an appropriate response to besmirching Muhammad, after all.
i foudn out that nintendo 64's are very tough consoles as i dropped my old fat screen on it when i was a kid and it didnt do any damage lol just picked up the tv and carried on playing it :D why cant electronics be as tough as the N'64 XD
This always sounded strange because of how the chanting sound effects were played over each other, with a deep sound in the background. But still a classic song.
i own this version and always heard this song, i always thought there was monks in the temple somewhere but now that i heard about it on pop fiction from Gametrailers, its just very eerie but so happy to have the special version :)
When a Christian examines Islam with a perspective that reduces religion to a spiritual message and moral teachings, they begin to compare Christianity with Islam despite the vast difference between them, and here lies the root of the problem. The mission of our Lord Jesus, peace be upon him, was a local spiritual mission. In contrast, the mission of our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was a global spiritual and legislative mission. Here we see the Christian focusing solely on the spiritual aspect of Islam and hardly accepting it because they do not accept any religious elements that extend beyond the personal sphere to influence the external reality. Most of Dr. Jordan's statements in his speech stem from this point, such as "Muslims are supposed to view Jews and Christians as enemies and should spend their time purifying their own souls, which is better than viewing others as enemies." In response, we say that a Muslim does not view a Jew or a Christian as an "enemy" but as people of the book. A Muslim does not deal with the people of the book in the same way, as they are not the same, and life circumstances are not the same, whether in times of war or peace. However, a Muslim is obligated to justice and kindness in times of peace, as Allah says, "Allah does not forbid you from those who do not fight you because of religion and do not expel you from your homes - from being righteous toward them and acting justly toward them. Indeed, Allah loves those who act justly" [Al-Mumtahina: 8]. When 'Amr ibn al-'As conquered Egypt, a land following Christianity, he stated in his address to the people of the land: "(This is what 'Amr ibn al-'As has granted the people of Egypt: safety for themselves, their religion, their wealth, their churches, and their crosses)" [Al-Bidaya wa'l-Nihaya, Ibn Kathir]. Hence, the principle is peace and fair treatment, as Allah says, "But if they incline to peace, then incline to it [also] and rely upon Allah. Indeed, it is He who is the Hearing, the Knowing" [Al-Anfal: 61].
That's what I said in a previous video.. It's very creepy and scared the shit out of me when I was alone playing this in my room. Had to stop many times because I was so drawn into the music and not the game. Bugged out really.
OoT will ALWAYS be the darkest game to me because of how original it was even with its MUSIC! I remember that this music along with the Shadow Temples music would give me this ominous, haunting sensation. It would SELL you the story and made me believe the history each temple had gone through idk how to explain it but I'd actually wonder thru the temples and look at the paintings, designs and anything that would help me know exactly what went on or happened in those places. Newer games don't have these concepts. The genuine creepy factor.
I never really got creeped out by the chanting as when i was a kid i just related it to the chanting in the forest temple, which didn't creep me out but intrigued me. It was a new and funny sound. Not to mention i was having too much fun to pay attention. point aside i really do wished they kept it in the game, it really makes it sound more authentic as it is called Fire TEMPLE
My brother's friend left his pre-ordered Nintendo 64 gold cartridge copy of this game at our house and I distinctly remember this being the theme and not even realizing it was edited when this game came out on the GameCube. Awesome memories playing this game and watching my older brother play it too!!!
as a kid me and brother always tought this was the imprisoned gorons praying to their gods. I loved this piece as a kid it felt intriguing and misterious. Also the bolero fire was the best warp song imo. Nostalgia overflowing!
I didnt know this was changed. I bought the game used in 1999 when i was 15 and never knew there was an issue with it. It fit so perfectly with the temple. Sucks that Nintendo changed it.
There is a lot of misinformation of here. Both versions of the song were created before the game was released anywhere. Nintendo, after realizing this song contained actual Islamic chanting (well, actually phrases), preemptively removed it with the no-chanting version. However, not wanting to scrap all the copies already made, they released them anyway
YamiJustin this being most n64 copies because it is easier for the factories to keep making the same thing then having to change it so when the GameCube version came out along with the master hard quest most copies did not have this
My version of Ocarina of Time still had blood, the Crescent moon on the mirror shield and the chants in the fire temple and I grew up thinking that was the game. Imagine years later, while making a new friend and playing OOT at his house and the mirror shield has a new symbol and Ganondorf vomits green blood. It fucked me up and I had to do my best to explain to my new friend that my game had different shit than in his without sounding like "that kid". I'm glad that I eventually got an explanation for this.
The chanting is part of it it is also the wind blowing that contributes and usually I think of just the fire temple empty and just this being played over and over.
I grew up with this version. I'm not Muslim but I think that this version is the best. If Muslims are offended by this, then sorry, but I think this fits so perfectly.
@@robin5216 It was removed because Nintendo doesn't like putting anything religious in their games. It wasn't even because Muslims didn't like it. Nobody really said anything at all actually.
The reason this was removed has nothing to do with fear of backlash. It was against Nintendo's own policies about having real world religion included in their games. They had no idea what this actually was when they put it in as it was a stock sound effect. By the time they realized it they had already made and sent out the cartridges so they just decided to remove it from all future releases.
Hearing this I always envision the Fire Temple in the its oppressed condition. Taint and corruption rampant, poisoning the Temple's true purpose, it's sanctity weakened and fading. And then come the chanting voices, the ancient spirits of the Temple reaching out for aid, calling for a savior to release them from their bondage and restore peace and order to their ancient home.
I'm glad I didn't play the version of Oot with this in it. The chants sound like the Gorons praying to their gods to help them escape death. This makes me not want to sleep O_O glad they removed this
The chanting is a scrambled version of Ashahada, the first pillar of islam, in the beta, they straight up had the original version, u can ever hear the guy saying bismilahiraknairahim
![Zelda- Ocarina of Time Music - Fire Temple [chanting version]](/img/logo.svg){kind=logo}
