Sound and vision

The discovery of the year award highlights exciting new composing talent. Previous winners Tamar-kali and Craig Armstrong give John Hazelton an insight into their work and infl uences

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amed by the World Soundtrack Awards as the discovery of the year in 2018 for her work on Dee Rees’s rural drama Mudbound, Tamar-kali has since scored features including Kitty Green’s e Assistant (2019), Josephine Decker’s Shirley and Dawn Porter’s documentary John Lewis: Good Trouble (both 2020).

Since winning the same prize in 2001 a er Moulin Rouge!, Craig Armstrong has become one of the most in-demand modern composers, working on lms as varied as Taylor Hackford’s Ray (2004), Louis Leterrier’s e Incredible Hulk (2008), Oliver Stone’s Snowden (2016) and, most recently, ea Sharrock’s e One And Only Ivan (2020).

Bas Bogaerts

Tamar-kali CA My in uences are varied. I studied classical music from 1977 to 1981 at the Royal Academy of Music and my professor was Cornelius Cardew, who was a very experimental composer at the time. While studying in London I would also check out movies like Death In Venice and Don’t Look Now. Musical in uences range from electronic and avant garde to French romanticism, particularly Ravel and Debussy. Scores I admire include e Reader by [2009 WSA discovery winner] Nico Muhly, Revolutionary Road by omas Newman and In Bruges by Carter Burwell. On the other type of very cra ed lm music, John Williams of course. And Ennio Morricone’s Cinema Paradiso is one of my favourites.

What have been the highlights of your career since winning the award?

Tamar-kali Returning to [WSA host city] Ghent [in 2019] and having my work presented and played by the Brussels Philharmonic under the conduction of maestro Dirk Brossé. Being pretty much an independent-style composer, I’ve o en done small chamber pieces with local musicians; being able to hear an orchestra of that quality play your music was very exciting. Outside of that, [a highlight has been] getting to know other soundtrack composers and fans. It’s a very humble community that is lled with a lot of love for the art itself. Craig Armstrong e highlights of my lm career are from my times working with Baz Luhrmann on e Great Gatsby and Oliver Stone on World Trade Center. I also recently worked on a beautiful movie by Adrian Noble called Mrs Lowry & Son. Other highlights have been creating some of my solo albums, like ‘Sun On You’ with the Scottish Ensemble, and my new album ‘ e Edge Of e Sea’. e ability to work in lms which then allow me to fund artistic projects like these albums is very special.

Who are your infl uences, and which composers do you admire?

T-k I’ve spent 20-plus years as a performing and recording artist, coming up through the New York punk rock and hardcore scene and also being a classical choral singer, so my in u-

Luk Monsaert

Name a favourite recent score, by yourself or others.

T-k I enjoyed what Daniel Pemberton did with Birds Of Prey, because there was some synchronicity going on between what you would expect to be needle drop and what you would expect to be score. CA I like the scores I wrote for Dirt Music, e Burnt Orange Heresy and Mrs Lowry & Son.

Craig Armstrong

ences range from Berlioz to Bad Brains! When I stepped into this world of composing for lm, [standouts] to me included the work of Zbigniew Preisner [the ree Colours trilogy] and Ryuichi Sakamoto [ e Last Emperor]. But the landscape at present is lled with so much goodness. I’m enjoying the work of [2019 WSA discovery winner] Michael Abels [Get Out], Mihaly Vig [ e Turin Horse], Jonny Greenwood [ e Master], Laura Karpman [Lovecra Country], Hildur Gudnadottir [Joker], Nainita Desai [For Sama], Daniel Pemberton [Spider-Man: Into e Spiderverse]… there’s a lot going on.

How has soundtrack composition been evolving?

T-k As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, people are really leaning in, listening and being creative outside the context of their speci c artistic discipline. I’m hoping that can transform how the business of making music is done, especially for someone like me who has opted to stay where I’m from [New York] as opposed to going to Hollywood. In certain industries there are ways [of working] that monopolise the structure and the culture. [ e pandemic] has torn that asunder. And that’s important, because you need a diversity of ideas and methods to have things really stay alive and grow, not be stagnant. CA It’s much more competitive and budgets are smaller but, as a composer, you should stick to what you want to hear and what the director is looking for and you can’t go far wrong. ■ s

To view previous discovery winners, visit

worldsoundtrackawards.com