Lanatir
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the
story
Immerse yourself into the story of a
Mauritian music author/writer/composer & producer
and discover one of his musical adventures
it all
begins
DRAFT 1
It all began in January 2019, I was asked to assist an amazing composer, a good friend of mine "Randy Ramos" with music production for the scoring of the JIOI"Indian Ocean Island Games which was to be held in July 2019. We were given until end of February to come up with the first drafts and get done by April/May for the final score to be produced. That was one of the biggest challenges I ever met. This was not any normal music scoring as it was meant for a 50min Grand Ouverture for the JIOI and it had four acts. Four music composers were chosen and given an act to work with namely, "ANSAM", "MELANZ", "NATIR" & "KILTIR". The whole project was planned by artistic director Emilien Jubeau and the music coordinator was Gavin Poonoosamy. The first act was given to music composer Filip Perovic, second act was tasked to Kersley Sham while I received the third act leaving Randy Ramos with the fourth act. The game was set and the dices were rolled. After being briefed in an artistic residency of 3 days to help us connect with other artists and the crew, I head to a music studio in "Phoenix" to start my first draft and came up with this.
try
again
DRAFT 2
After presenting the first draft to the team, I was told that the introduction of the music was a bit too scary and they wanted a mood that created a calm atmosphere rather than a dark intro. Time was limited and I realised that I could not use the first draft. I had to be in a proper mental and physical zone to compose and produce this piece of art. I also had to consider the fact that choreographers would spend hours of rehearsals on this music. As a composer, I had to make sure that they would not get fed up easily but instead be boosted and get inspired as well.
On the other hand, this track was to be listened by people from around the world, mostly the islanders around the Indian Ocean. So I needed to blend their culture and music elements into a cinematic way of music scoring. After all these considerations, I moved from the city studio to my home studio which was near the mountains. Best way to compose music related to a nature theme was to be well surrounded by nature itself. All powered up, I was ready to lay the first notes of the second draft. This is how it sounds like.
the
forest
inner forest scoring
The music was approved and I carried on from there. I was now about to get into the deeper parts of the forest. I had a very short brief of the script as a guide, yet I was tripping in my own little world, expressing myself with my music. Every time I had a blank, I went on my rooftop, looked at the mountains for some inspiration. I remember I once went up there during sunset and got back inside to work on the music. Next thing I know I was back up the rooftop watching the sunrise. I realised I spent 12 hours in the studio.
The deeper I went into the storyline, the more I could hear music elements in my head which I felt like needed to be in the music. At one point I was tasked by the music manager to create the song of the forest. I had to make the forest sing but without lyrics. That was quite a challenge and guess what, it happened and this is how it sounds like.
fairy
tale
Fairy Tale
Once the song of the forest was done, everything calms down in the beautiful night, ready for a fairy tale. Everyone gathers around for a story telling and all ears swimming into a magic moment. This is the story being told with the music. Creating a fairy tale like mood was such an amazing experience for me as a composer. Every time I thought about magical moment, Christmas came into my mind. I was also visioning the bioluminescence scene in Avatar and it all cooked inside my head to sound like this.
the
end
Ending
We have now reached the celebration of life in the forest. All the elements gathered were to form this amazing energy and vibe to display the forest's power. The end was to be majestic and breathtaking at the same time.