Bruce Retief, composer of animated feature films Adventures in Zambezia and
Khumba, released by Cape Town-based Triggerfish Animation Studios, produces
albums and composes and arranges music for various artists in South Africa.
However, these movies were his big break into composing film scores.
“I knew about the plans to make Adventures from Zambezia from early on, and I
waited for a director, who turned out to be Wayne Thornley, to be attached to the
project so I could send my music to pitch to him. Apparently I was one of 12
applicants, and Wayne chose me.
“It was my and Wayne’s first full feature so we walked a road together and
discovered what we wanted as we went along. This process took two years! Wayne
is the type of director who prefers to have examples shown to him to work from, so I
would come up with an idea for a scene, play it for him, and he would give his
comments and make suggestions and changes. Most of the time we agreed on the
emotion that was required for the various scenes,’ says Retief.
He comments that the musical style for Adventures in Zambezia was “more overtly
African, with lots of African-style vocals, choirs, and so forth.’
For Khumba, director Anthony Silverston, who also wrote the script and had been
developing it for a number of years, had a more definite idea of what he wanted from
the word go.’
Retief continues: “Anthony was keen to showcase the indigenous culture and
instruments of the Karoo. The trick was to make this work within the confines of a
movie score which also had to evoke the desired emotions from a global audience.
“It was fun and very challenging to collaborate with Anthony to make this happen,
and we both love the result.’
According to Retief the musical style for Khumba was more subtle and included
traditional instruments associated with the area, and not as many vocals, although
they are there.
“Both movies, however, had similar orchestral music and I worked hard on creating
epic, sweeping themes for both films.’
Symphony orchestras
“The scores for Zambezia and Khumba were played by a full 64-piece symphony
orchestra. For Zambezia we had the privilege of flying to Los Angeles and recording
my score with the Hollywood Symphony Orchestra. We were working with the best of
the best in Hollywood, and there they were playing my music and they didn’t hate it,
it was really humbling.’
After that they took the recordings to Skywalker Sound near San Francisco where
the music and the movie sound design were mixed. “That was mind-blowing too.
While we were mixing Zambezia, Mission Impossible 4 was being mixed in the room
next door!’ says Retief.
Proudly South African
Silverston and Retief decided to go Proudly South African for Khumba and recorded
and mixed the entire score at Stellenbosch University, using their camerata (a small
chamber orchestra or choir).
“I must say the results were spectacular – completely comparable with Hollywood,
only much less stress, and far cheaper, so we’ll definitely be using them again for
any future work. I was really proud.
“What I’ve found is that working together with other musicians is invaluable to
achieving a great result. On both films I worked with singer / composer / producer
Zwai Bala, who brought so much to the table, and really helped make the scores
what they are,’ comments Retief.
Annie Awards
In late November 2012 Retief received a message saying that he had been nominated
for an Annie Award in the Best Score for an Animated Movie category. Hollywood’s
equivalent of the Oscars for the animation industry, Retief was amazed that he had
been nominated alongside some big-name Hollywood composers such as Alexandre
Desplat, Henry Jackman and John Powell.
“The movie scores I was up against were from Disney’s Wreck it Ralph, Pixar’s Brave,
Dreamworks’ Rise of the Guardians, and Ice Age 4 by 20th Century Fox. Just to be
mentioned in the same sentence as these composers was a huge honour and a big
surprise. It was very glamorous to fly to Los Angeles with my wife and attend the
award ceremony. I met some amazing people and made important contacts for future
opportunities,’ he says.
Retief’s favourite score is Disney’s Aladdin by Allan Menkin. “It is extremely rich,
masterfully composed and orchestrated, and just beautiful. Allan Menken is my
favourite composer. I also really like Hans Zimmer’s earlier work.’
