Niko Donburi is best known for his parodies about the thriving virtual world known as Second Life. His lyrics depend largely on satirizing issues and aspects of Second Life--be it grey goo, Linden Lab, furries, or virtual romance.
Niko's parodies about Second Life are well known through out the SL community and were a staple of SecondCast, SL Under the Radar and other popular Second Life podcasts during the peak years of SL . Niko was a featured performer at the 2007 Second Live Community Convention in Chicago, Illinois, and he still holds the record for the largest virtual live music concert ever held in Second Life at 400+ separate sims.
Niko's music is frequently heard in the clubs of Second Life, with old skool virtual deejays keeping songs such as Dear Linden, Dear Linden, It's the End of the World as we know it (in Second Life), and My Favorite Things (About Second Life) in rotation. It's been said that if you really want to know the history of Second Life, all you need to do is listen to Niko's songs.
While this site is no longer being updated, you can learn more about Niko's current activities at his new blog: The Catholic Songwriter.
44 lines about 22 Lindens - I got to wondering one day about who these Lindens really are and what do they actually do... (parody of "88 Lines about 44 Women" by The Nails)
Escape (The Second Life Song) - Looking for love in SL? Best be careful your spouse doesn't find out... (parody of "Escape (the Pina Colada Song)" by Rupert Holmes.)
Wastin' Away in Second Life- An ode to the greatest time sink ever created... (parody of "Margaritaville" by Jimmy Buffett)
Living Virtually - What keeps bringing people back to Second Life are not the graphics, the ability to create your own content or any other technological feat. It is the people. (original).
Machinima
Not all of my Second Life songs are parodies. Here are machinima for five of them that are not....
One of my most popular songs, this parody of the Cheech & Chong classic summarizes the Second Life experience quite nicely. It's annotated to explain what I'm actually singing about!
As amazing as Second Life is, it's the people behind the avatar that make it all worth while. This song is my way of thanking all those who have been my virtual friends...
As many of you know, Second Life allows you to reach a level of intimacy with another person that is beyond the physical. The wall of physicality that we carry with us in the real world gets set aside, exposing our hearts and minds. Such exposure can easily lead to wounds. This song tries to answer the question of how can someone whose virtual cause so much pain that is physical? It was made by my good friend chugabug midnight during the record breaking show from liam and chrissy's barcelona sim and is dedicated to....
Whenever I would bring anyone into SL, the first place I would show them was Svarga. Svarga was the center of artificial life in Second Life. Everything in the entire sim was created to be interdependent, from the clouds to the insects to the plants. You can read more about Svarga here, at New World Notes.
But Svarga, like Niko Donburi, is now a thing of SL lore. It no longer exists. Fortunately, I had filmed a machinima exploration of the sim, which does not do it justice but at least provides a glimpse at what many consider was the most incredible thing ever created in Second Life. This is a solo guitar composition written specifically for the machinima.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not include this one of Koryo. This is a parcel long donated to me as a music creation space from my best SL friend, Elwood Abernathy. When I am not performing live in Second Life I would often plug in and play here. Since this was my first machinima, you'll note I forgot to turn off my title. If you look closely, however, you'll see that I am listed as busy. Fitting, that. I had scoured the SL vendors and included as much artificial life on the parcel as possible, including weather effects, renewing flowers, butterflies, birds, insects, and, of course, my cat.
A letter to fans of Niko Donburi
A final letter to all fans of Niko Donburi from the human behind the avatar:
I never thought my virtual music career would end this way, as a victim of murder. Then again, I suppose that's how rock stars become immortal, so it should not have been unexpected. I just wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. There I was, minding my own business at Esch's gallery opening when I was stabbed in the back with some sort of spear like weapon by an unknown assailant. The woman next to me saw it happened and evidently died of a virtual heart attack.
For a long time there were concerns, rumors, that the Lindens were plotting on a way to get rid of their biggest critic next to Prokofy. Every time they would make a change to the grid or SL, a song would soon be produced lampooning them. For a while it was thought that I would be permabanned, particularly when word got out that I was in possession of a contraband t-shirt which featured the Second Life hand. Pathfinder had it in for me from the days of SLCC2007 when I blackmailed him into giving me a tip whilst busking in the halls.
There were other enemies too, of course. Sim owners at whose venues I refused to perform. Crazed fans miffed that I wouldn't play all of their Second Life favorites (you know who you are). Even my wife, as set forth in Escape (the Second Life Song). But if you ask me, I think it was the Lindens taking revenge for me revealing SL secrets a certain Linden revealed to me shortly before he himself was eliminated from the world he helped create...
Rather than delete everything here, I have decide to keep it up for all those past, current and future fans who get fed up with the quirks of Second Life, and Second Life drama, and just want to smile, laugh or remember an early time. A time when Second Life was something new, something incredible. The archives chronicle my journey from a newb on June 22, 2006 through the date of my virtual death, December 6, 2008.
At the moment, I do not anticipating writing any more songs about Second Life. I will still be performing them from time-to-time, but I've got other songs to write and other worlds to explore.
