Le Grand Héritage is finally open!
The first 2010/2011 batch of themes are available.
Welcome to Le Grand Héritage, a site entirely devoted to the music of the legendary series “The Mysterious Cities of Gold”.
The versions available here are neither the original recordings nor the reorchestrations released in 2002 by Loga-Rythme. The goal remains the same: to reproduce the originals as faithfully as possible (and add new personal reworks, at times).
Once again, certain themes remain “approximate” since they appear very rarely throughout the 39 episodes of the series and are generally covered by dialogue and sound effects.
However, experience and the acquisition of period equipment now make it possible to recapture the very special atmosphere of this sumptuous soundtrack by Shuki Lévy, Haïm Saban et Noam Kaniel.
— Yannick Rault
The re-orchestration work resumed last year, and the result is so close to the originals that we are seriously considering a new CD release.
Releasing a CD is a completely different job to producing sounds in a little studio, so we aren't giving a date for the moment!
In the meantime, you can still listen to the 'intermediate' versions here, made between 2011 and 2017.
Interested? Leave us your address to be kept informed of what happens next.
It's been (ahem) quite a few years now since this project started... It was in nineteen ninety-something, wasn't it?
We never counted exactly, because it's dizzying, but to give you an idea: back at the start, Yannick posted his creations to his mates on audio cassettes, to hear what they thought, because that was simply the handiest way.
Another clue: the very first tracks were served on this site's ancestor in MP2 format !
Kilotons of hours of work, pricey instruments bought and rewired to speak MIDI, and then a hard-drive crash that forces you to start the whole thing over again, better.
And that's when you realise you completely missed the chance to ride the crowdfunding wave. 🥲
You can see where this is going: if you enjoy this work — whether you're discovering it today, or you're an old-timer who bought the 2002 CDs, or maybe burned your own from the MP2/3s to play in the car — well then... chip in !
No donations yet — be the first!
The first 2010/2011 batch of themes are available.
For this first update, 3 new themes are available.
3 new themes!
For this first update, 3 new themes are available.
"Cradle of Light", a derivative of the piece "Sailing". The reorchestration remains quite approximate in terms of sound quality since the quality of the track used in the series is at least curious... let's say fuzzy...
"The Empire of Heva", which partially reprises "Tao theme". Used in the superb scene recounting the past of two great civilizations: The Empire of Heva and Atlantis.
"Vertigo", a short interlude that borrows its melody from the opening credits.
Good listening.
Nolife channel has broadcasted a small report on this website
A personal version and an interlude.
"The Flight of the Condor", long version. A sublime theme, available on 33t, but unfortunately too short to my taste. I decided to remedy this and took the opportunity to add some cities-of-goldesque ingredients.
"The Medallions": This interlude appears only once in the series.
If you are on Facebook, do not forget to click on the "like" button to discover this site to your friends.
Two interludes and a magnificent theme used for battle scenes.
A small interview about the new re-arrangements of the soundtrack for The Mysterious Cities of Gold.
The famous theme of the "previously on" segments, "Hoisted High" and a short interlude.
The Recap: a very effective theme that is actually an adaptation of the piece titled "Happy Esteban".
Hoisted High: an electronic version of the second part of the theme "Sad Cities of Gold".
Mysterious Apparition: a short interlude that refers to no other theme in the series.
A small update... just one theme, and yes... it's Easter weekend.
Behind this pun a bit rough, a very sad news...
It's official, the dubbing cast for season 2 ends in failure: Jackie Berger (Esteban), Odile Schmitt (Tao) and Isabelle Ganz (Zia) were not retained for the continuation of the adventure. A rather surprising piece of news... and so disappointing! A petition will be launched here in the hope of changing things while it's still time, and as a result to testify to these actresses our support and respect for their work... thank you in advance.
Lack of time at the moment, a single title for this new update.
I haven't given up yet nor abandoned the project to take up painting on porcelain... Simply lack of time. Here, in exclusive worldwide (just that!) is the magnificent theme "The Esperanza Adrift", which has been on hold for a while now.
Introduction of the opening credits, two short interludes and a rare piece.
After weeks of inaction and doubts, four new tracks online: the intro to the theme song, "The Revelation", "Respite" and "Sancho & Pedro".
Some words about the petition "dubbing season 2"
There are days in Normandy when it rains...
So we take advantage of it to do some zik. A nice theme, "Perilous Flight" online for this rainy day...
There are days in Normandy when it rains for several days in a row... (even in August).
The Wrath of Pachamama, a grand theme!
Sublime theme of the series, "The Wrath of Pachamama", a piece VERY largely inspired by "The Final Glory", (at least as far as the introduction is concerned), from the same composers for the Ulysse 31 series (from the same directors... can you believe it?).
Back to the grind soon, less free time ahead...
Last small update on the holidays with "The Golden Condor", a variation of the title "Sailing" available at the time on LP. Good listening, and good luck to those who put the igloo tent in the attic tomorrow. :-)
The beta version of a project whose name must not be mentioned...
Mini update: a personal theme that borrows the essential ingredients from the soundtrack of the Mysterious Cities of Gold.
The B version... same thing except it's not the same...
The piece that gave its name to the site...
Le Grand Héritage (The Great Legacy, for those who can't read French even when it's transparent), one of the darkest and most chaotic themes in the series. Months and months to understand what's hiding behind the various ffffizzzzz and tchiouuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu sounds in the piece.
Le Grand Héritage in standby mode...
Le Grand Héritage is on hold and the music is no longer available. Why? Easy once we know. I am considering possibly releasing a CD (I say possibly) as well, I prefer to do things properly in order to complete this project. To be continued...
Two covers of the 33rd track.
Yannick offers you extremely rare pieces.
We had a good laugh, though.
A rare theme and two even rarer interludes.
The break was helpful...
Personal themes
Who has never longed of discovering the hidden secret behind this re-orchestration work of the original soundtrack of the mysterious golden cities? Nobody...
Who has never longed of discovering the secret behind this reorchestration work of the original soundtrack of the mysterious golden cities? Nobody...
Let's start from the beginning...
It was in 1999. Like many of you, I was browsing the internet to find information about these BGMs... nothing! The few sites dedicated to the series offer the 16 available tracks on the LP record, some fan-made reconstructions (published as bonus tracks on the AK Video CD) but no trace of the rest of the music.
And that's because: the master tapes have been lost during an earthquake... "but I'm not even sure if this story is true... it may just be a legend..." (thanks Mayucca... you can go back to breaking rocks at the High Peak).
I then started re-recording some of the missing themes... and I let myself get caught up in the game.
At the time, I had almost nothing to redo this kind of thing: a Soundblaster 16 with a Korg daughterboard, a guitar, and a little synthesizer... I didn't give up. The list of recorded tracks grew.
Big difficulty n°1 : the episodes are in mono, the sound is not great and the sound effects and voices cover the themes systematically... Fortunately, Emmanuel Maniez's reconstitution work helped me save time but was not enough: some reconstructions are incomplete or truncated (you can't blame him, some pieces are impossible to reconstruct in their entirety)...
Big difficulty n°2 : you don't replace a minimoog, a prophet, an odyssey or any other vintage machine with a sound card... (and the Soundblaster cards... even customized with a daughterboard, they remain relatively "honk-honk" in terms of sonorities).
A bit later, Gwenaël Longo offered to create a section on his site. These first reorchestrations (or interpretations... as you like it... it doesn't change much about the approach in the end) were then available gradually, with sometimes "version B" because they were improved little by little...
In the meantime, I was lucky enough to be able to invest in a nice analog modeling synthesizer. So, back to square one, everything had to be redone with this new toy! We're still far from the original sonorities but it's finally starting to look like something...
They offered me to publish my work: what a joy! The problem is that not only was I not finished, but I was still not satisfied with the result, I had bought an expander (something like a synthesizer but without keys...) and I had started over again... It will therefore take almost another year for me to finish this project...
Simply because they existed at the time when Loga-Rythme contacted me... and it allowed us to "fill in", since there were too many pieces to make a single CD and not enough for two. Two of these remixes are by Bart of noise :
2008: I keep telling myself that I did it with my own means, but I still can't find the spirit of the Cities of Gold in these two CDs. With more hindsight, more experience, and above all more equipment, I started working on it again.
and the adventure continues since then, with highs and lows, doubts, and sudden bouts of the blues (the site closed twice, for goodness' sake !!!)... a CD project had been launched, then abandoned, but will be revived when the time comes... we'll see what the future holds...
However, since 1999, motivation remains intact and the goal has not changed: trying to reproduce these superb musics as faithfully as possible since it is still impossible to possess the originals.
Actors of the Loga-Rythme project :
Voice : Rémi-Bertin Thériault, Gwenaël Longo, Aline Dirou, Stéphanie Trannoy
Guitar : Frédéric Gontier (on "the Spanish plot")
Graphic design : Gwenaël Longo
Track naming: Carryl Lefebvre, Gwenaël Longo, Gilles Broche, Yannick Rault
Actors of Le Grand Héritage dot Mu project :
to come...
Facebook page of the Grand Héritage: www.facebook.com/LeGrandHeritage
There you have it, you know almost everything now...
Why didn't I write all this sooner ???
Jeez, I Can do what I want, right? Since all of this is free, let's not push our luck!
To celebrate 2013, 7 new themes
A major update since 7 new themes are available (interludes, themes and personal declensions). Happy New Year and good listening !
This will mean something to French speakers, but we’ll explain it to you...
In 1983 a great comic force faded out. At sixty-nine years old, twenty years after finally obtaining a leading role in a film, Louis de Funès left us.
It's been thirty years to the day, and to mark that Yannick suggests taking a good bowl of cabbage soup!
Aaaaah, the Cabbage Soup! Certainly not his best film, but it undoubtedly belongs to our cinematic culture. Its musical theme, an adaptation of an Auvergne bourrée by Raymond Lefèvre,
is one of those catchy tunes that sticks in your ears for hours. So here we go again, get ready to whistle this refrain all day: La Supochutl, the Cabbage Soup theme, a Yannick parody version.Alright, we know... it's a distillation of French popular culture and all this sounds very foreign to you. So if you want to have a glimpse at what's it's all about, have a look at this video and this one.
Three main themes
A small update: 3 new themes including the famous documentary theme. Good listening!
It's not "cities of gold" but almost...
The Final Glory is a piece from the original soundtrack of Ulysses 31, yet the intro refers to the title "The Wrath of Pachamama". A good opportunity to do some advertising for my colleague David Colin, whose reorchestrations of the Ulysses 31 soundtrack are about to be published. More information here: www.parallax.fr.
More personal things
A single theme for the relaunch
Calmness and less calm.
Personal update.
A little gift to prepare for the end of year celebrations.
Something unusual on Christmas Eve...
To your health!
and not the best...
And yes, it's spring! The opportunity to let oneself go to a few playful themes.
and a good one...
Yes but not the one you think...
Three new themes including one surprise.
Variety update: a theme from the series (Brave Esteban), a theme from the LP (Electronic Adventures) AND... the Japanese instrumental opening, revised with a French twist (the surprise)! Enjoy your listen.
Three new themes, again...
A documentary on Amano Yoshitaka
Don't miss the documentary on Amano Yoshitaka, tonight on NoLife (and probably rebroadcast later).
Amano Yoshitaka is a Japanese artist who worked on animated films such as Gatchaman (The G-Force) or Robotech and the famous video game series Final Fantasy.
Why mention it here? Well, simply because Yannick made the soundtrack for this one-hour documentary.
So two little gifts
One piece in 4 months???? so what ?
Farewell .mu!
80s the podcast
Long time no see!
Le Grand Héritage reopens its doors after 8 years of absence !
On the programme for 2025: relaunching the project, getting even closer to the original tracks, recording the missing themes that have never been reorchestrated before (the Spanish Conspiracy, Farewell my Father, etc...) a few more personal versions and… a new version of the site.
In the meantime you will have make do with the pop-up format of the old site. ^^
Feel free to find us on social networks (Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky).
Fame at last!
All things come to those who wait
A question or a comment? Feel free to leave us a message.
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