ah, the Devil’s Interval, banned in the middle ages. I think that’s more Sabbath territory…
Black Sabbath based the riff of their titular song on Gustav Holst´s Mars, which makes great use of the Devil´s interval. King Crimson in their early days covered that same tune and played it regular at live shows and then reworked it as The Devils Triangle on their second album(In The Wake Of Poseidon). So there is a definite connection.
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True, I was going to mention the Crimson/Mars connection when you brought up the Bolero.
Getting back to the underworld theme, I once saw a band in a cafe play that with a trumpet taking the lead. I couldn’t believe they got away with it! I don’t think anyone else picked up on the fact they were listening to video game music.
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Oh, missed this version! Fully voiced, enhanced graphic!
There may be a lot of fighting involved, but it’s one of the most adventure-game-like RPGs I know. 
Nobody seems to know what to call Zelda. I’ve seen people literally get angry when referring to it as an RPG.
I see it as an action-adventure, which in itself is a very very broad genre.
They have my favourite puzzles ever, probably. It’s all in those splendidly designed dungeons and temples – sheer bliss.
Yes, without this performance, these non-playable characters appeared a bit static in that chapter of CMI.
It’s really not easy. The character development (which mainly works with items / item upgrades) + fighting makes it quite RPGish.
But then it also includes Jump&Run elements etc. etc…
Very heavy puzzle elements too in many of the games and unusually light on narrative (very simplistic) in most of the games compared to most other action adventures. Yet, like you say, it does have some traditional JRPG elements though in a very small quantity and the closest it gets to “levelling” up Link is heart pieces.
The most similar game I can think of to The Legend of Zelda titles is Adventures of Alundra, and there’s way more effort put into creating the narrative in that game. Zelda lets itself play out sparsely and mysteriously more like a metroidvania game.
Having said that, I don’t think Zelda games are weak in terms of narrative. A game doesn’t need a million words to tell a great tale. Zelda is as immersive and rewarding as gaming ever got for me.
Yeah, it’s its own beast.
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Maybe that’s why it’s still the best to me. 
It has enough action/fighting involved so it avoids feeling like too much work (like some adventure games do where all you do is go from room to room collecting items, or some RPG’s where it just feels like you have to spend a day getting experience points). But the puzzles and secrets are what make it so much fun.
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Well Adventure of Link has certain RPG elements like experience points and certain spells, you get none of that in most other games though. The gameplay couldn´t be further away from Final Fantasy. If Zelda was turn based, you could play more than one character, earn experience points, could grind for XP and change your characters talents or appearance or even name at all, yes then I´d consider it an RPG. Most Zelda games have none of that though, except for getting better by earning more hearts and items, you can´t change or advance anything. Really the only thing it has in common with most RPGs is a high fantasy setting, that´s it. So count me among those who don´t really like Zelda being considered an RPG.
I’ve taken a recent HUGE liking to metroidvania games because of their vast free exploration and light RPG elements, with plenty of secrets and items to find. Also, combat is typically fantastic.
Weeeeell…
Of course it’s not just an RPG. But it has enough RPG elements to be part of the family (although I’d still put it more in the adventure game category).
Turn based or party of multiple characters are absolutely no criteria at all.
RPGs can have them or not.
In Zelda there is character development via items (vs. through experience points, stats, skills etc.). You have combat, you have grinding (rubies for buying stuff), I think those are enough RPG elements.
Btw. in e.g. A Link to the Past or Link’s Awakening you can also choose your own name.
By that definition Super Mario Bros 3 is also an RPG.
Sorry no, if health is your only statistic and the name the only thing you can freely influence and the only interaction you have with other chracters is listening to what they say to you I don´t too many RPG Elements there. I´m happy to give the second game a pass but otherwise I´m having terrible flashbacks of how angry I was when magazines were saying Secret Of Mana was “like Zelda”. That´s just not true.
It might be part of the family, but that part that doesn´t really get invited to celebrations and reunions and neither party minds it much.
I guess Maniac Mansion is survival horror because you can hide from hostile characters…
See: The anger is real.
If you would like to play a game that is quite like Zelda though, you could try Alundra.
I don’t mean Zelda being an RPG. It’s a quite a mixture of genres but RPG is IMHO a (main) part of it.
Action-Adventure-Platformer-Puzzler-FreeExploration-PseudoRPG-Strategy-FParrowShooterHorseRidingSportsGame.
No need to thank me.
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I was actually more talking about the classic ones to not make it too complex.
i.e. your HorseRiding part is completely inaccurate!!!
But +1 for not including metroidvania
You don´t make friends with arguing about Zelda. I better not mention that I never cared for Ocarina Of Time and everything that came after that and that Link To The Past is far and away my favourite.
Link to the Past? Wasn’t this just a trimmed-down version of Link’s Awakening but with more RPG elements? 
(just kidding)