Whale Rider (Score)

Lisa Gerrard - Whale Rider (Score)

Whale Rider (Score)
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CD Details

Artist: Lisa Gerrard
Edition: Music CD
Audio: English (Original Language); Maori (Original Language)
Published: 2003
CD Release Date: 2003-06-17
Music Label: 4ad / Ada
Soundtracks:
  1. Paikea Legend
  2. Journey Away
  3. Rejection
  4. Biking Home
  5. Ancestors
  6. Suitcase
  7. Pai Calls The Whales
  8. Reiputa
  9. Disappointed
  10. They Came To Die
  11. Pai Theme
  12. Paikeas Whale
  13. Empty Water
  14. Wakak In The Sky
  15. Go Forward

Music reviews of Whale Rider (Score)

Music Review: A Symphony Of Ambient
Rating: 5 Stars

Music has the power to take you to the other world, to the other time. It can make you cry and make you smile and you don't know why. The beauty of it is that the music is powered by your imagination and you start to see with your eyes closed. All of this is more than true with Lisa Gerrard's beautiful and emotional score to the Whale Rider.

Lets just make couple of things clear at first. Whalerider is not another Gladiator in any way. Gerrard's vocals are not as present here as they were in Gladiator. Her voice can be heard only a couple of times, and even then her vocals are not the main instrument. They are used only on the background. This score doesn't include any wagnerian type of recognizable themes like Gladiator did, and most of the scores nowadays. This score doesn't include any "hit tracks" either, like for example "Now We Are Free" in Gladiator.

Whale Rider is pure mood. It is a symphony of ambient. It is like the ocean, it moves and changes without any predictions. People have said that Whalerider score needs the movie to work proberly, with the story, actors and landscapes creating the emotions. Of course the score music always works best with the movie. These two elements needs each other and the music is made to elevate the film. However I think the score for Whale Rider works also on its own. I can say this because I haven't seen the movie yet. I know so little about it. But the funny thing is that after listening to Lisa Gerrard's score for a while, I suddenly started to see the story. I started to feel the atmosphere and sense the mood of the story.

What makes Whale Rider strong is the whole album and the way it is built. It starts with the sound of the ocean, which instantly sets up the mood. Then we hear voice by a girl, with a New Zealand accent, talking about the background of the story with Gerrard's music. All the tracks from this point on are building up the story piece by piece, taking listener little by little deeper in to the other world. When the album ends, we hear the sound of the ocean again and then we are taken under water and soon we will hear the whale. The story has come to the conclusion. The structure is just so beautifully crafted. There is so much depth in it.

Gerrard has composed music like a painter. She has taken a certain mood and emotion and used it to create a landscape. The music is mostly ambience, it is mostly background, but it is very rich. It has so many layers. There are so many layers of emotions and feelings happening at the same time that you find yourself weeping just because of the scale of the palette. Strings lead the way and all sorts of sound effects and human voices, including maori chanting and Gerrards own, creates textures. In some occations we can also hear the traditional instruments used by Maoris, which creates a sense of place and history. The traditional culture of the Maori people is very important in Gerrard's music in Whale Rider. It is like a tin whistle for Irland. It tells its own story and gives us some kind of perspective of the history. "Waka In The Sky" and "Go Forward" are simply beautiful examples of this.

What she does is that she keeps it very simple. And the simplicity is the key element, which keeps it so fresh and makes the score work so well. It makes it powerful and emotional. It doesn't even have a clear theme in it, but the Whale Rider is the kind of score that doesn't need one! It is a score about peace and beauty. It is a great addition to Gerrard's previous filmwork. She has created her own style, where the main thing is to create an atmosphere and set up the tone, e.g. The Insider, which had a perfect score in it. This one is different, but only in a postive way. Whale Rider takes you on a journey, and when you close your eyes and open your heart, what a journey it is.

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Description of Whale Rider (Score)

This ex-Dead Can Dance member imparts her own mixture of the ethereal, the worldly, the emotionally abstract, & the purely beautiful to all of her projects. She's been universally recognized & acclaimed for her body of work, received a Golden Globe & was Oscar-nominated for the ''Gladiator'' soundtrack. She has also worked on such high profile movies as ''Ali'' & ''The Insider''. This release is a soundtrack for the New Zealand indie film ''Whale Rider'', already the biggest grossing film in New Zealand ever. Gerrard's music, combined with the motion picture, provides an experience of profound power & spiritual enlightenment. Digipak/slipcase. 4AD/Beggars Banquet. 2003.
Lisa Gerrard, the former voice of Dead Can Dance, returns with a soundtrack following on her acclaimed scores to Gladiator (with Hans Zimmer) and The Insider (with Pieter Bourke). Those hoping for another glimpse into ecstasy through Gerrard's magnificent voice will be disappointed. This score to the New Zealand-set film relies more on texture and mood, with Gerrard's voice planted in a slowly undulating drift of synthesizers and sustained guitar lines. It's not until "Biking Home" that you might even recognize Gerrard's voice in this quietly joyful mood piece. She only gives herself full, if understated, voice on the symphonic closing track, "Go Forward" which echoes Gladiator's "Now We Are Free," but with Maori chanting. Though there is some compelling music on Whale Rider, much of it sounds bereft without the accompanying images. --John Diliberto

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