Black Hawk Down Soundtrack CD

14. Minstrel Boy - Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros (film version)


Original score composed by Hans Zimmer.
Includes liner notes by Daniel Schweiger.
Personnel: Hans Zimmer (piano, synthesizer); Denez Prigent, Joe Strummer, Lisa Gerrard, Rachid Taha, Baaba Maal (vocals); Heitor Teixeira Pereira (guitar, saz); Michael Brook (electric guitar); Craig Eastman (slide guitar, hurdy-gurdy, mandolin, violin, viola); Martin Tillman (cello, electric cello, loops); Walt Fowler (trumpet); Samantha Maloney (drums); Ali Tavalali, John Fitzgerald, Michael Fisher, Satnam Ramgotra, Brian Kilgore (percussion).
Audio Mixer: Al Clay.
Liner Note Author: Daniel Schweiger.
Recording information: Media Ventures, Santa Monica, CA; Sony Picture Studios, Culver City, CA; Sony Studios.
Photographer: Sidney Baldwin.
Unknown Contributor Roles: Mescaleros; Michael Brook.
Arrangers: Joe Strummer; Martin Slattery; Richard Flack; Scott Shields; Tymon Dogg.
Hans Zimmer has a certain zest for meshing genres and cultures within his scores, and BLACK HAWK DOWN is a perfect example. Ostensibly following guidelines set by Jerry Goldsmith's THE 13TH WARRIOR, where traditional Arabic scales and tones were fused with a bold neo-Scandinavian ambiance, Zimmer employs similar tactics to enhance the theme of the film. He intensifies BLACK HAWK DOWN's clash of civilizations by taking traditional Middle Eastern musical themes and blending them with distinctly Western styles of pop, rock, and even country. In addition to the Goldsmith inspiration, nods to Peter Gabriel's PASSION are evident, especially when Zimmer adds Middle Eastern vocals to the score. However, the sonic tapestry he weaves from these influences and styles is coordinated so well that the proverbial stitches are rarely exposed.
Once again, director Ridley Scott has employed composer Hans Zimmer to score a motion picture, following their collaboration on Gladiator (2000) and Hannibal (2001). From ancient Rome to the world of a serial killer, Scott's settings vary considerably, and Black Hawk Down presents yet another musical challenge, set in Mogadishu, Somalia, during a failed mission by UN peacekeeping (i.e., U.S. military) personnel in 1993. Zimmer has done his homework on traditional North African music as it meets the late 20th century; his work combines identifiably Middle Eastern strains with elements of techno. The key to the approach is the use of vocalists Baaba Maal ("Hunger," "Still") and Rachid Taha (Taha's own co-composition "Barra Barra"). Although the music is quite aggressive early on, the later tracks reflect the mission's troubles. Denez Prigent and Lisa Gerrard's "Gortoz a Ran -- J'Attends" is distinctly elegiac, and the symphonic "Leave No Man Behind" toward the end makes it clear that, even if men haven't been left behind, they haven't necessarily been brought back alive. This sadness is given its final expression in a new recording of the traditional song "Minstrel Boy" by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros (an earlier version is on their 2001 album Global a Go-Go) that plays over the credits. Zimmer used an unusual method to play this score, putting together the BHD Band, consisting of himself on keyboards, guitarists Michael Brook and Heitor Pereira, and string players Craig Eastman and Martin Tillman, and in effect jamming on much of the music, with orchestral scoring added later. He has achieved a style that works well for the downbeat, if suspenseful, tone of the film and its exotic setting. ~ William Ruhlmann

2. Barra Barra - Rachid Taha


3. Vale Of Plenty


4. Chant


5. Still


6. Mogadishu Blues


7. Synchrotone


8. Bakara


9. Of The Earth


10. Ashes To Ashes


11. Gortoz A Ran-J'Attends - Denez Prigent/Lisa Gerrard


12. Tribal War


13. Leave No Man Behind


15. Still Reprise

1. Hunger