-
Message Boards
Movie Soundtracks
A Review of Samsara (Cyril Morin)Archive of old forum. No more postings.
Please visit our new forum, The MovieMusic Lobby, to post new topics.
Author
Topic: A Review of Samsara (Cyril Morin)
franz_conrad
Oscar® Winner
SamsaraScore composed and conducted by Cyril Morin.
1. Pema’s Theme (2:14)
2. Maniwall (2:09)
3. The Eagle (1:29)
4. Prayer (0:27) (traditional)
5. The Return (0:59)
6. For Noble Truths (3:09)
7. Awake (1:03)
8. Tashi meets Pema (2:11)
9. Time to Choose (2:50)
10. Tantric Drawings (2:30)
11. Prayer at the Monastery (1:12) (traditional)
12. Kala’s Theme (4:04)
13. Farmer’s Chant (1:28) (traditional)
14. Dawa’s Arrival (2:05)
15. Acceptance (0:57)
16. Dawa’s Theme (2:57)
17. Karma’s Theme (1:07)
18. Peacock (1:37) (traditional)
19. Sujata’s Theme (1:16)
20. The Stick and the River (1:39)
21. Fire (2:09)
22. Tashi’s Theme (5:07)
23. Bumblebee (11:02) (composed and performed by Dadon)
Total (56:41)The Long and the Short of It
Cyril Morin provides a solid ethnic romance score for Pan Nalin’s spiritual romance. The film concerns a Buddhist monk called Tashi who, after three years in meditative hibernation, rejoins his monk community in Tibet only to find his every thought distracted by feelings of lust toward the women he increasingly comes into contact with. To cut a long (three hours long) story short, he leaves the refuge of the monastery to seek enlightenment in Samsara, ‘the world’. He finds there lust, anger, love, lovers (his wife to be Pema and migrant worker Sujata), enemies (Dawa), children (Kharma), desperation and a purity beyond his reckoning. It’s a powerful film. An erotic film, too. Not completely successful, partly because the film’s shallow equating of spiritual and sexual awakening hardly satisfies anyone whose wondered "what it’s all about", but worth seeing if it pops up at a film festival near you.
As for the score, it’s a romance score coloured with an extensive range of ethnic instrument solos. Mongolian violin, duduk, Japanese flute, Chinese flute, sarangi, Tibetan bowls, Balinese flute and Jews Harp all get their play in the sun, and that’s just a sample of the instruments on offer. Importantly the ethnic instrument led pieces are backed by the beautiful performances of the Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra. The principal theme, for Tashi and Pema’s love is a classic example. It’s a beautiful piece of work, and never fails to impress in its five or six appearances in the score. The extensive range of secondary themes (see individual descriptions below) don’t quite come off as well, but as an album, if you like this kind of epic score (with plenty of instrumental colour), you can’t really go wrong here. Negatives include: the inclusion of sound effects and the occasional dialogue snippet from the film. This kind of thing never really works, and when you hear the sounds of lovemaking on the score’s best performance of the main theme, you just know you’re never going to be able to play that to anyone else.
Other negatives include track sequencing and the inclusion of a bit too much of Morin’s more atmospheric writing. There’s not really enough harmonic variation to really capture the Western music listener’s ear, and at times seems like much of a muchness. Fortunately, there’s a good half hour in the album by Morin, and another 11-minute piece by Dadon that is also remarkably effective. Between these two there’s more than enough to recommend a purchase here, especially if you can find it cheap second hand (as I did).
Track-by-Track Analysis
1. Pema’s Theme (2:14)
A theme for Tashi’s great love Pema. The track starts with what sounds like a submarine going overhead. After a few seconds of atmospheric noise (cosmic beam?) a stringed instrument (possibly Jew’s Harp) starts a soft melody that is taken up by Mongolian violin and Japanese flute. It is truly one of the most attractive themes I have heard since the last great John Barry theme (‘Beyondness of Things’). String orchestra joins in at about the one-minute mark, but the emphasis remains on the ethnic instruments.
2. Maniwall (2:09)
I always test soundtracks in stores by listening to tracks 2 and 4. I figure the best is always put in track 1, so why not find out what the supporting material is like by listening to later tracks. Sometimes it leads to good choices, sometimes to indifferent ones. I bought Samsara largely because of this track. It has one of the most inventive uses of a vocalist that I’ve heard since Gladiator. String orchestra and Japanese flute start a melody that is almost as attractive as the film’s main theme. At about half a minute in, the flute fades and two boys start singing overlapping lines in a language I assume is Tibetan. They sing the lines over and over while the orchestra repeats the string motif. For its simplicity, this is truly stunning writing – sadly the theme doesn’t feature again on the album.
3. The Eagle (1:29)
Bells and a range of Tibetan instruments build an atmosphere of anticipation, with the orchestra creeping in (note the Stravinsky-like strings) for an effective finish.
4. Prayer (0:27) (traditional)
A brief but nonetheless annoying interlude for everyone’s favourite a capella troupe – Tibetan monks! Its unfortunate Morin couldn’t incorporate the monks as effectively as he could the boys in track 2 above. It comes nowhere near Philip Glass’ superb precedent in Kundun for the incorporation of Tibetan cultural touchstones into the architecture of the score.
5. The Return (0:59)
Duduk and what sounds like a Tibetan horn open the track, trading notes, before the track segues into the next. Very nice ambient feel.
6. For Noble Truths (3:09)
That lovely Japanese flute returns, backed by bells and keyboards. Forty seconds in the string orchestra is introduced as Pema’s theme is stated in grand style. The flute playing against the string orchestra backing is just superb, but I find after seven weeks of listening no track can do wrong when it features this theme. At the end, the orchestra segues back into an ambient passage for keyboard.
7. Awake (1:03)
Tibetan bowls and atmospheric percussion cover the duration of the track, which I assume must accompany the scene when Tashi is awoken after years of meditation in a cave in the Himalayas. Doesn’t really add anything to the score.
8. Tashi meets Pema (2:11)
That submarine goes over again, the Jew’s Harp starts up the rhythm, and Japanese flute throws phrases of Pema’s theme. This time the theme is played without Mongolian violin, just the luscious sound of a string section that must be pretty big. There is a nice variation on the resolution of the theme here. Sarangi concludes the track.
9. Time to Choose (2:50)
Out of nowhere comes a dialogue fragment from the film, accompanied by a horse whinnying and a peal of thunder. As a dog barks (I’m not kidding), some nervous drum beats start and keyboard effects combine with some of the many ethnic instruments to create a feeling of unease. It reminds me very much of the tribal music written by Peter Buffet to supplement Barry’s Dances with Wolves and Scarlet Letter scores.
10. Tantric Drawings (2:30)
Better described as atmosphere is this track, which takes the famed licentious renderings as its title. Probably for a segment of the film where Tashi’s burgeoning lust for all things feminine is developed. There is an interesting motif for strings that appears about the 90 second mark that fades too soon to make an impression, and for most of its length, this is yet another variation on Morin’s atmospheric writing.
11. Prayer at the Monastery (1:12) (traditional)
See remarks on track 4 above. This is actually a little more interesting, with the focus being drums instead of those incredibly throaty monks. I tend to skip it myself.
12. Kala’s Theme (4:04)
I think this is a Chinese flute leading the performance. A Tibetan boy choir contribute phrases to punctuate the string-driven theme. The theme reminds me very much of Mike Figgis’ score for his film The Loss of Sexual Innocence – as a theme is more shifting tones than harmonic variation, but it’s attractive nonetheless.
13. Farmer’s Chant (1:28) (traditional)
One traditional piece that is quite interesting, and doesn’t outstay it’s welcome. Just male and female farmers trading phrases, I imagine the hypnotists of the world could use a looped version of this cue to great effect.
14. Dawa’s Arrival (2:05)
Once Tashi has settled down to a life with Pema, Dawa becomes his chief business rival. The menace represented by this character is conveyed effectively through the use of overlapping woodwinds – the duduk, the Balinese flute and others that are hard to distinguish in the mix. Similar string backing to Kala’s theme.
15. Acceptance (0:57)
Japanese flute opens the piece, playing phrases from Pema’s theme, before it is joined for a brief exchange by the duduk. Nice short example of strong woodwind writing.
16. Dawa’s Theme (2:57)
Ethnic percussion and tonal textures open the piece, before strings suggest a malevolent motif that develops into a strong theme for the menacing Dawa (he certainly sounds menacing). Hermannesque in style, the strings rise and descend, punctuated by a sharp percussive effect, before the theme is concluded with a mixture of the ethnic instruments that dominate the score.
17. Karma’s Theme (1:07)
Karma is Tashi and Pema’s child. His theme starts out as a mixture of film sound effects and dark textures, but soon becomes a brief playful variation on Pema’s theme. Nice, but all too short.
18. Peacock (1:37) (traditional performed by Jama Kelsung)
A nice traditional piece that features a stringed instrument accompanied by an old man singing. Quite a good piece of source music.
19. Sujata’s Theme (1:16)
Tashi’s attentions are distracted by the sexy migrant worker Sujata, leading to one of the more unusual sex scenes I think I’ve seen. Sujata is represented by this keyboard-backed piece. Sarangi and Indian flute provide most of the musical colour of the character. More a motif than a theme, it is nonetheless an interesting addition to Morin’s palette.
20. The Stick and the River (1:39)
Duduk and strings play in unison this mournful piece.
21. Fire (2:09)
Nervous strings and film sound effects open this piece, which is probably the closest to Morin writing action music. Martial percussion is accompanied by dramatic strings for the scene in which fire strikes Tashi’s life in the world. (I don’t want to give away any spoilers.)
22. Tashi’s Theme (5:07)
The score’s final theme is actually its first. Against the sounds of Tashi and Pema consummating their love, the Jew’s-harp starts up Pema’s theme. Mongolian violin, Japanese flute and Chinese flute play in unison with orchestral for a lovely extended performance of a theme that was born to accompany epic vistas. Halfway through a Mongolian violin solo plays the theme, before the orchestra resolves with the counter theme. It’s as magnificent a consummation of a score as anything in Out of Africa or Dances with Wolves. And while Morin’s score may lack the consistent appeal of those scores, on the basis of this theme alone I recommend it.
23. Bumblebee (11:01) (composed and performed by Dadon)
Not really connected to the rest of the score, this is a beautiful ambient piece for voices and acoustic instruments featuring lyrics by the 6th Dalai Lama. This would have probably served the album better in the middle. It doesn’t really clash with Morin’s style, and it would have left the final spot for Tashi’s theme.
Featured Musicians
Christine Kotschi: Japanese flute, Balinese flute, Chinese flutes, duduk, ney, saz, sarangi, lyre, Mongol violin, Tibetan bowls.
Christophe Gauthier: Indian flute, geling.
Stephan Scott: percussions, sanza.
Tenzin Gonpo: Tibetan violin.
Cyril Morin: guitar, percussions, keyboards, keyboards, jewsharp.
Chants: Nuns of Drupka Kagyu Ladakh and Zanskar.
Prayers: Lamas of Hemis, Chemrey Monasteries Ladakh.
Farmer’s chants: Villagers of Stagmo Ladakh.Orhestra: Bulgarian Symphony Orchestra.
Conductor: Deyan Pavlov.[Message edited by franz_conrad on 06-15-2003]
posted 06-15-2003 01:40 AM PT (US) franz_conrad
Oscar® Winner
Is no-one interested in this score?NP Samsara (Morin)
posted 06-15-2003 06:00 PM PT (US) joan hue
Oscar® Winner
franz, I was very interested in your review, but I’d bet most of us on the board haven’t
seen this movie. In fact, I haven’t heard of it before now, and I usually check out highly
regarded foreign films. I went to IMDB to read about it after your review, and now I
hope I’ll be able to rent it at some video store to both see the movie and to listen to the
music. One reviewer at IMDB said he purchased the CD after viewing the movie.Thank you for such a well written, in-depth musical analysis of this movie. If we seemed rather mute
on the topic, I would bet it is because we weren’t familiar with it. I find most quality
foreign films play only in large cities in America, so those of us who live in average or
small towns often don’t get quality cinematic exposure until art and foreign films show up
at our video/DVD stores. Hope I can find it around here. The composer is also new to me.NP The Other
posted 06-15-2003 08:07 PM PT (US) franz_conrad
Oscar® Winner
Thanks Joan. There's website for the film at:
http://www.samsarafilm.com/It should find its way to a US release eventually. Usually a foreign film has to be pretty remarkable to get an Australian release, and this film has won several awards at festivals as audience favorite and the like.
As for Morin, he has a website at:
http://www.cyrilmorin.com/Most of his work is for television, though he has worked on documentaries of Pan Nalin prior to taking on this film. Certainly he has put out solo albums, but I haven't been able to find any of them.
posted 06-15-2003 10:44 PM PT (US) Old Infopop Software by UBB