[Monday Notes No. 179] Por una cabeza is a tango composed by Argentine musician Carlos Gardel for the 1935 film Tango Bar. The lyrics of the song refer to horse racing, when a horse wins ‘by a head’, i.e. with very little gap. In Italian, a similar expression is used, winning ‘di corto muso’ (with…Continue readingPor una cabeza, the adventurous life of Carlos Gardel
Tag: soundtrack
[Monday Notes No. 178] Vuelvo al sur is a song composed by the Argentinian musician Astor Piazzolla as the soundtrack for the film Sur, directed by Fernando Ezequiel Solanas. The 1988 film is about the return home of a former prisoner, but it also contains a severe critique of the Argentinian dictatorship, which had fallen…Continue readingVuelvo al Sur, the Argentinian tango of Astor Piazzolla
[Monday notes no. 159] Mo Better Blues is the title track of the soundtrack for the film of the same name directed by Spike Lee, who commissioned the music to his father Bill Lee. Mo Better Blues is has a funky feel but in many ways falls in the tradition of the more archaic blues.…Continue readingMo Better Blues, a soundtrack to understand the blues
[Monday Notes no. 158] Deborah’s Theme is the main piece written by Ennio Morricone for the soundtrack of Once Upon a Time in America, one of Sergio Leone’s most important films. I have tried to analyse this masterpiece in film music.Continue readingDeborah’s Theme by Ennio Morricone. Analysis of a masterpiece
[Monday Note 157] The soundtrack of the film Schindler’s List has been created by one of the greatest masters of film music, John Williams. The American composer has written music for all kinds of films, from the science fiction of Star Wars and E.T. to the adventures of Indiana Jones. In this case, his music…Continue readingSchindler’s List by John Williams, all the secrets of a great soundtrack
[Monday Notes no. 153] For the soundtrack of the film I soliti ignoti Mario Monicelli chose a young Florentine musician named Piero Umiliani. Monicelli wanted a soundtrack that was completely jazzy, a very unusual choice for the time. Let us analyse the track entitled Gassmann Blues.Continue readingPiero Umiliani, Gassmann blues. Jazz meets Italian comedy
[Monday Notes no. 151] Piero Piccioni was a great film music composer, he wrote dozens of soundtracks working both with Francesco Rosi in the more demanding cinema and with Alberto Sordi in the great Italian comedy. We analyse his Samba Fortuna from the film Il Prof. Dr Guido Tersilli primario della clinica Villa Celeste convenzionato…Continue readingPiero Piccioni and Prof. Dr. Guido Tersilli
[Monday Note No. 145] Profondo rosso is a famous horror film by Dario Argento, the soundtrack played by the Goblins is perhaps even more famous. Let us try to analyse it to find out how the ideal soundtrack for a horror film is composed.Continue readingProfondo rosso, how to create a horror soundtrack
[Monday’s Notes No. 139] The Way We Were could be an ordinary song, instead it becomes something special thanks to a series of refinements in the way it was composed, arranged and sung. Barbra Streisand’s performance is also particularly poignant because the singer starred in the film for which the song was written.Continue readingBarbra Streisand, The Way We Were. How to write a good song
[Monday Note no. 137] Buena Vista Social Club is a documentary film shot by Wim Wenders in 1999. The film follows the album of the same name by two years and aims to promote the music of some aged Cuban musicians brought back to the public eye by guitarist Ry Cooder. Among them is guitarist…Continue readingCompay Segundo, Chan Chan. Four chords and four towns