The Kite Runner: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
From AwardAnnals
 | |
| Artist(s) | Alberto Iglesias |
|---|---|
| Subtitle | Original Motion Picture Soundtrack |
| Label | Deutsche Grammophon |
| Honors | |
| This soundtrack features original music written by Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias. The Academy® Award-nominated composer (The Constant Gardener) is also highly-acclaimed for a number of soundtracks he wrote for Academy® Award-winning director Pedro Almodovar’s films, including Hable Con Ella. In addition to the original orchestral music by Iglesias, the soundtrack includes original songs by legendary 70s Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir, Ehsan Aman and the world-renowned British singer of Iranian-Azerbaijanian background Sami Yusuf. The Kite Runner is a powerful movie that has all the necessary elements, including the compellingly beautiful soundtrack, that will make this a hit film as well as one of the best-selling soundtrack albums of the year. | |
Directed by Golden Globe® nominee Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball), The Kite Runner is the epic tale of fathers and sons, of friendship and betrayal, that takes us from the final days of Afghanistan’s monarchy to the atrocities of the Taliban reign. This unforgettable story of redemption is based on the international, best-selling phenomena “The Kite Runner,” by Afghan-American writer Khaled Hosseini. The soundtrack features original music written by Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias. The Academy® Award-nominated composer (The Constant Gardener) is also highly-acclaimed for a number of soundtracks he wrote for Academy® Award-winning director Pedro Almodovar’s films, including Hable Con Ella. In addition to the original orchestral music by Iglesias, the soundtrack includes original songs by legendary 70s Afghan singer Ahmad Zahir, Ehsan Aman and the world-renowned British singer of Iranian-Azerbaijanian background Sami Yusuf. The Kite Runner is a powerful movie that has all the necessary elements, including the compellingly beautiful soundtrack, that will make this a hit film as well as one of the best-selling soundtrack albums of the year.
Reviews
Amazon.com
Despite getting an Oscar nomination for The Constant Gardener, Spanish composer Alberto Iglesias does not have the reputation he deserves in the U.S. In Europe, however, he’s well known for his lush, classic-sounding work for Pedro Almodovar. Here he proves really versatile by creating a fitting soundtrack to a drama set in Afghanistan. Iglesias smartly decided to get inspiration from Afghan music, which he described in an interview as “closer to Persian with an admixture of Pakistani music,” but not merely ape it, and his score gracefully incorporates elements from various styles (an Iranian zither in “Kite Shop,” a wailing electric guitar on “The Stadium”) without sounding like a patchwork. Iran-born, U.S.-based avant-garde singer Sussan Deyhim contributes particularly haunting vocals on “End Phone Call.” Also of note are a pair of songs, “Tanha Shudam Tanha” and “Az Man Begurezed,” by Ahmad Zahir, who was an icon of Afghani music in the 1970s, as well as new compositions (“Omaid e Man” and “Dukhtare Darya”) from exiled Afghani musician Ehsan Aman. —Elisabeth Vincentelli
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