MUSIC SCORES AND THE OSCARS

If you know me you will know I love and adore music, opera and film music scores. The problem with scores is that there could be more opportunity given to women and other cultures. Therefore the music is basically brilliant but similar.  More variety is needed. Variety occurs when you mix cultures up. The film world is not mixed up. At smaller Festivals films are shown that should be seen and hardly aired, let alone recognised. Too much snobbery over names, which makes film making so uninteresting.

Nainita Desai

There is a composer in England called Nainita Desai, and hopefully she can enter the world of Hollywood and win an Oscar one day, last year she wrote a wonderful BBC documentary musical called Mumbai High set and filmed in a school in India with children who had no prior knowledge of performing and music. It was incredibly moving, although up for a BAFTA, Hollywood does not know anything about it. This is the diversity I am talking about. Where are the  black composers?  Since Cry Freedom, no black composer has been given the opportunity to compose for a likely award winner.  Here is the list, it is shocking. Of course many black performers have won in the song department.  Can't the agents be a bit more imaginative and take on minorities and promote them? People are complaining there is not enough diversity in the Film World generally. Women achieved considerable success this year with so many brilliant scripts for them. Carol, The Danish Girl had brilliant parts. Cate Blanchett and Alicia Vikander surely shine, yet behind the scenes, the statistics are shabby and complaining. Another thing is that the composers chosen this year are represented by mostly the same agent, which seems a bit dodgy too.

This year I am delighted that at last Ennio Morricone is hopefully going to get the adoration he should have had twenty odd years ago for The Mission. Of course he has won so many awards but the Oscar is something special and any composer who spends his life in film will tell you that. It is not their raison d'être, rather the cherry on the cake So far he has only won it for "Life Achievement" not for any particular score. The Hateful8 a Tarrentino movie should get him this accolade as he has won everything else. One thing we should remember is the music was already written for another film, it was written for a horror film called The Thing. Does that actually meet the requirements?.

ENNIO MORRICONE

Should John Williams again win for a score of Star Wars that he has already won the first time round in 1978? That seems a little dull too.

I am saddened that last year's Oscar winner,  Alexandre Desplat did not get any real recognition for his score for The Danish Girl, a film which left me speechless for three weeks when I saw it at The Venice Film Festival. If you watch the film properly and I mean properly it cannot fail to move you. Desplat got nominated in the Globes and it was won by Morricone for his score of the Hateful8.

Last year  I appreciated Johan Johansson's ability but he copied Desplat for his score of The Imitation Game using Kings Speech and Extremely loud and incredibly close.  Rumours abound in Hollywood. I mentioned it my blog last year. As for Sicario? What can I say, why not have the real thing and and this time Black Sabbath, Iron Man? Clearly people have little musical ability who vote, otherwise they could hear the
problems easily.

I am really happy to see Carter Burwell nominated for his score of Carol, I totally loved it and it is unfortunate that he is nominated against John Williams, Thomas Newman and Ennio Morricone, as his score was so strong.
Thomas Newman's score is not his best but its very good for Bridge of Spies, but not award worthy.
The Revenant has one of the worst scores ever by three composers just did not work, composed by Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bryce Dessner and Alva Noto. It is too jumbled up, by talented musicians individually but this does not really work.

A few years we complained about women not having enough equality in show business generally, let along racial diversity. The problem is that everything that is award winning is usual given a chance when a person is well known, and a friend of a friend. This seems intelligent too much money is at stake, but the other side is that it makes for ultimately boring perfection. In the Lebanese culture, perfection is not attractive, story telling is the most interesting thing. People respond to emotions not anything perfect, pure and clean.  The other problem is that the voters for the Academy are basically over 60 and male, giving opportunity to their friends, 94 percent are white, 76 percent men and an average of 63 years old, there will be bias.

Black people should equally be responsible for representing their culture by writing scripts and making it happen. There is the iPhone and you make a film and when finished send it to The New Film Festival which specialises in giving opportunity to people who have talent, but really its not about talent its about hard work, and never giving up.

  So come on Agents, Writers, Producers, Casting Directors, have a little more imagination, be daring and the world is full of magic.

PLAGIARISM OF DESPLAT's WORK

I want to prove my point of plagiarism, this is my opinion but it is worth thinking about.
I am a little fed up of listening to composers who seem to think that composing is copying. Antonio Sanchez used his imagination for Birdman yet he got disqualified from being nominated for an Oscar, but Johansson got a nomination for  "borrowing" from someone else?  Here is my proof  that Alexandre Desplat's work was copied almost throughout Theory of Everything. I am not a member of The Academy, n'or shall I ever be. I am an enthusiastic individual with a sense of right and wrong and most of all I like originality. I also have lived in a family of musicians and know how irritating it is when this happens.
Johan Johansson's score for Theory of Everything is without a doubt too like the work of Desplat's, I stand strong on this. For example Johansson has used bits of the music from Extremely loud and Incredibly Close, Benjamin Button and Kings Speech, changing keys and one or two endings..but...
The director,  Mr Marsh although saying he wanted to work with Johan Johansson, obviously wanted Desplat to score his film and got someone to copy it. The score is ultimately plagiarism of Desplat's work. I admire Working Title and all the films they choose but really?.  If there is no litigation I will eat my hat.  I can go bar by bar, but will leave that to those people in the know. I cannot believe that I am the only person on the planet who hears this and comments about it?

HAS DESPLAT's WORK HAS BEEN PLAGIARISED

Anyway I have made my point just listen and you decide.
Here is a sample of Johan Johansson's other work before composing for film. It is totally different.
Boy the composers today could be a whole lot more imaginative, and if it were a race, Johan Johansson would be in my opinion disqualified, not the work of Antonio Sanchez.
What is really sad is that the film is excellent in every way, moving, touching and beautifully acted by Eddie Redmayne who I had the pleasure of meeting at the BAFTA party with film director Peter Medak.  In my view Johansson does not deserve to be in the running for the Oscar, and clearly is new to the game. It is not his lack of ability more his lack of tact.

MUSIC IS THE FOOD OF LOVE SO PLAY ON..........AND WHO WILL WIN THE MUSIC AWARD TONIGHT

This is my first blog entirely about music. Music is my passion.
Tonight is the BAFTA's, one of my favourite UK events, and I am lucky to be invited each year.

I am often asked what pieces of music I love most and the following are the keys to keep my sanity holding the reigns to my universe' It is the unspoken word, the note that moves me or does not. I have loved music all my life,  it invaded my life at the early age of about five when I had to stand up and sing at school endlessly in choirs and solo. Singing Sister Angelica, Puccini at school at about twelve started my path to further exploration. Playing the piano especially the work of Bach's  two part inventions,  starting with  C, played here by Gould. This touched my soul despite my school girl ability, it has been with me throughout my life.  The earliest pop music I listened to that I can remember was that of the Beetles, but I loved Handel, I loved Purcell and I loved Jazz, Miles Davies. When most people were singing  the lyrics of the latest bands I would quickly lap up the tunes by Purcell. I loved singing "When I am laid"from Dido Aeneas. actually I equate music with sex.  Later, I loved The Velvet Underground the craziness of Andy Warhol, the dark perversions of this man who was neither well dressed or outspoken grabbed my attention. He was so out of fashion that he was in. I loved him and the androgyny of Patti Smith too.  Then there was Lou Reed who for me was a magician.
I was obsessed by film composer Maurice Jarre who wrote the music for Dr Zhivago and The Damned and Bernie Hermann. These were my two favourite music writers. The piece that Bernie wrote from my Grandfather, Sidney Gilliat's film Endless Night filled me with foreboding. I loved the music of Frances Lai for Bilitis, the naive sexuality of young girls explored by his brilliant writing.
There are so many scores I have enjoyed, Amelie  by Yann Tiersen, The English Patient by Gabriel Jared; St Trinian's by Malcolm Arnold; The Mission,  Romeo and Juliet score by Nino Rota original. So many that I have listened to non stop. Without composers and their compositions I would have not lived life, what turns me on is music, unlike the spoken word, it rarely hurts, it is deeper than that.
My mother and my son both love Opera and of course I do too, but I truly love the music of film more. Borrowed often from great old composers, Beethoven's 9th,  in Clockwork Orange created havoc in a film that was both banned and slated.

Through music I have discovered my Neverland, Michael Nyman's score for the soul searching film by Jane Campion The Piano to Alexandre Desplat's music for Lust Caution, exploring sexual betrayal. I am a true fan of these open minded geniuses that write with passion. There are so many more to mention but there we are, a blog is a blog. Replying the question I was asked this morning, "If music be the food of love, play on....." Duke Orsino from Twelfth Night by Shakespeare.



Tonight at the BAFTA's  it is the music scores that will hold my attention, they make a film.
BAFTA SCORES TONIGHT
What should have won tonight probably won't and some have not been nominated.
Birdman's score by Antonio Sanchez.  It was the most imaginative.
The most complete, brilliant and prolific scores today are by Alexandre Desplat, so tonight he may have a chance. Of course there is Hans Zimmer too..
Who will win is anybody's guess? Johan Johansson score for Theory of Everything is without a doubt, in my opinion, beautiful, but I prefer Desplat's original. At my music school they would tell him off.  I hear phrases from Benjamin Button, Kings Speech and so on. The director obviously wanted  Desplat to score and got someone to copy it. Easy to do. I did the same with my film, The gun the cake and the butterfly.
Here is the complete list of BAFTA nominees from The Telegraph.