Manami Matsumae attended Japan Expo 2015 in Paris. She is pictured on the left alongside Saitama, Japan-based video game cosplayer, Fujihime.
Manami Matsumae, in collaboration with Tokyo-based music label Brave Wave Productions, is officially underway with her first-ever original solo album, which will celebrate thirty years of working as a composer in the video game industry. Matsumae’s career began in 1987 when she graduated from the Osaka University of Arts and joined CAPCOM’s Sound Production Department that same year. The solo album will feature Matsumae’s signature technique of catchy, memorable tunes that people of all ages and backgrounds can enjoy. The solo album will be released by December 2017, 30 years after the release of the original Mega Man.
Before her first solo album releases, Brave Wave will collaborate with a group of artists for another Matsumae album, tentatively titled MANAMI MATSUMAE 30TH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE ALBUM. It will feature remixed renditions of up to 12 songs composed and selected by Matsumae herself as her all-time favorite compositions. The list of participating remixers includes other composers from the Brave Wave lineup and others who were influenced by Matsumae’s work. The participating artists will be revealed in the coming year. The remix album will be released in 2016 ahead of the solo album.
Matsumae’s music has touched the hearts of gamers since December 1987, when CAPCOM released the original Mega Man for the Nintendo Entertainment System, ushering in one of that company’s longstanding and most recognizable gaming icons. Since then, Matsumae has worked on dozens of game soundtracks, most notably Shovel Knight and Mighty No. 9. She has most recently worked with Brave Wave on original standalone songs and collaborative game soundtracks, penetrating the borders of her home country of Japan to reach new audiences and touch the hearts of gaming music fans in North America, Europe, Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.
The solo album and MANAMI MATSUMAE 30TH ANNIVERSARY TRIBUTE ALBUM simultaneously represent a tribute to her past work and an impactful opening to her fourth decade of musical composition. In deciding to create a solo album, Matsumae says, “It’s a shame I couldn’t get in touch with fans from around the world during my first decade as a composer. I see this solo album as a way to make up for lost time, so I hope everyone is looking forward to it!”