I really had a lot of fun writing for this film. The visuals are absolutely amazing, and the emotions are certainly there to be brought out.
One problem when we first started is that I noticed that most of the film showed the ‘talking heads’ instead of the African people. Paul made a lot of adjustments (I’m glad he values my opinion), and the film turned out to focus much more on Africa than rich people in America.
When I started writing the music decided to focus on the first montage because it was absolutely begging for music. Paul had recorded over an hour of the kids there singing so I picked out a song, tweaked the fast-paced melody they were singing to go much slower, and added a melody, and some harmony around it.
The african drums were particularly difficult since I had to match it exactly with the drumming in the shots. I got it absolutely perfect, but when it was put to the picture Paul had made some minute editing changes, and we didn’t have time to go back.
Paul asked me to include piano in this because he’s a piano player, and loves to hear piano with an orchestra. I tried several different places, but they didn’t work because the sound of a piano completely takes you out of Africa. However, I was able to find a spot to put it in. I’ll let you determine if my placement was appropriate.
I decided to use a middle-eastern flute to symbolize the individuality of the Kenyan people. I couldn’t really find a set african flute, so I figured the middle eastern flute would be the closest.
This documentary was long enough that I could do some variations on the theme. You’ll notice the theme changing throughout this film. I add more and more flute because I want the audience think more about the individuals on the screen.
I think the whole idea behind the music was to showcase the spirit of the individual in Kenya.
