Music Director Michael Abels Composes Acclaimed Score for Blockbuster Hit, GET OUT
Soundtrack Released by Back Lot Music
In addition to inspiring our students to scale new musical heights, Music Director Michael Abels’ has composed the soundtrack for the hit film, GET OUT, and the soundtrack has been released by Back Lot Music. The New York Times says that Get Out, “redefines the horror genre.” Outside of his work in our classrooms, Michael is known for combining classical music with African-American jazz, blues, bluegrass and ethnic genres. Variety Magazine reported, “GET OUT, a trenchant horror film about race relations, rode critical raves to a smashing box office debut. The low-budget film was the weekend’s top-grossing domestic release, earning $30.5 million.” Check out this rave review in The New Yorker.
“GET OUT writer/director Jordan Peele gave me very clear direction for this score,” said Michael. “He said that above all, it needed to be ‘seriously scary.’ That's hard to misinterpret!” Peele had reached out to Michael after watching a YouTube video of Urban Legends, one of his classical compositions. “He said it needed to have some distinctly African-American elements without relying on stereotypes, quite literally wanting African-American voices to be heard. The story was always to be told from the point-of-view of Chris, the main character and the African-American voices we hear would represent the souls of slaves or other black victims of oppression, speaking to Chris from spirit world.”
“GET OUT writer/director Jordan Peele gave me very clear direction for this score,” said Michael. “He said that above all, it needed to be ‘seriously scary.’ That's hard to misinterpret!” Peele had reached out to Michael after watching a YouTube video of Urban Legends, one of his classical compositions. “He said it needed to have some distinctly African-American elements without relying on stereotypes, quite literally wanting African-American voices to be heard. The story was always to be told from the point-of-view of Chris, the main character and the African-American voices we hear would represent the souls of slaves or other black victims of oppression, speaking to Chris from spirit world.”
Michael opted for using lyrics in Swahili for the voices. “Unintelligible lyrics are always scary, so I knew the voices should not be singing in English,” he explained. “I wrote some phrases these souls might say, and then read the Swahili translations aloud to see what music occurred to me. Out of that process I wrote a couple demos, and Jordan chose one of them, “Sikiliza Kwa Wahenga,” to be the Main Title for the film. The translation, allowing for some poetic license, is: ‘Brother — listen to the elders. Run! Brother — listen to the truth. Run, run far away! Save yourself.’”
#sikilizakwawahenga #getout
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