![]() ![]() Terence’s score amplifies every theme, every emotion, every battle, every heartbreak, every triumph, but never overpowers. “It should feel a part of the fabric of the film. “A great score is both invisible and magnified,” Prince-Bythewood says. Blanchard himself plays the kalimba, an African musical instrument with a wooden soundboard and metal keys. ![]() The percussion – nearly all played by three drummers and percussionists in Glasgow – is particularly impressive, as it drives the many action sequences in the film. “Through him, I already knew about some of that music rhythmically and harmonically.” The composer recalled that much of the music of that region is “very melodic, almost like American spirituals in a way but with a different kind of harmonic progression.” Lionel Loueke, a former student and later guitarist in one of his bands, hails from Benin. I love the sound.”īlanchard didn’t have to research West African music for his score. We had two women from Benin who spoke the language to help us with both the words and the pronunciation. But, Prince-Bythewood adds, “I still wanted to make sure I honored the beautiful language of the kingdom, so I decided that the chants and songs would be in Fongbe. Three Lebo M numbers (titled “Tribute to the King,” “Blood of Our Sisters” and “Agojie It’s War”) are performed in the film and preserved on the film’s soundtrack, released Friday on Milan Records.Īll the dialogue in the film is accented English. It was a beautiful environment to see the actors enthralled in the music he created.” He sent his team to teach our actors how to sing these complex melodies as a unit. “That started with the instrumentation and rhythms that he created, and the lyrics I gave him in the native language of Fongbe. “These songs needed to feel of this kingdom and time, and of the culture,” says the director. Leading the choir was Ghanaian-American mezzo-soprano Tesia Kwarteng.īut chants and dances are an integral part of the Agojie experience, so Prince-Bythewood brought in another Grammy winner, South African-born Lebo M, whose vocals in Disney’s “The Lion King” (both animated and live-action versions) are now iconic. Additional recording days (one in New York with Vox Noire, another in Colorado with Reeves) were required as post-production ramped up to make the Toronto Film Festival premiere. Reeves, and Vox Noire, flew to Scotland to perform with the 78-member orchestra. “When Dianne starts to improvise, she’s using a lot of guttural sounds and noises that sound like she’s singing words,” Blanchard says. ![]() We told her the story, and she was coming up with these ideas on the spot watching the screen.”Īll of Blanchard’s choral material is wordless, although Reeves’ vocalizations occasionally simulate language. “I knew Dianne had an improvisational nature that was perfectly suited to this film. “Dianne needed to be that emotional representation of these women,” Blanchard explains. Perhaps most significantly, he called on legendary jazz singer and five-time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves as his soloist. We wanted a classic orchestral bigness steeped in West African culture, instrumentation with voices to bring the feel of the ancestors.”īlanchard enlisted the nine-voice Vox Noire ensemble that he had previously employed in his acclaimed opera “Fire Shut Up in My Bones” during last year’s Metropolitan Opera performances and recorded for five days with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow. Viola Davis plays the leader of an all-female army of warriors known as the Agojie.ĭirector Prince-Bythewood tells Variety: “Terence and I connected immediately on what we wanted to do with this score. “The Woman King” is set in 1823 Dahomey, a West African kingdom now known as the nation of Benin. ![]()
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