Blood Diamond Soundtrack CD

Composer: James Newton Howard.
Personnel: Youssou N'Dour (vocals); Julian Leaper, Perry Mason, Chris Tombling, Pigott Smith, Tom, Warren Zielinski, Mark Berrow, Dave Woodcock, Jim McLeod, Michael McMenemy, Simon Fischer, Deborah Widdup, Jonathan Evans Jones, Kathy Gowers, Beatrix Lovejoy, Simon Baggs, Declan Daly, Paul Willey, Rose Warren Green, Manon Derome, Ruth Ehrlich, Christopher Clad, Richard Milone, Paul Manley, Dermot Crehan, Jonathan Strange, Steve Morris, Fenella Barton, Natalia Bonner, Thomas Bowes, Ralph De Souza, Roger Garland, Patrick Kiernan, Boguslaw Kostecki, Gaby Lester, Everton Nelson, Kala Ramnath, Johnathan Rees, Sonia Slany, Cathy Thompson, Gavyn Wright, Jackie Shave, Emlyn Singleton (violin); Ivo Jan Vanderwerff, Donald McVay, Chris Pitsillides, Tim Grant , Vicci Wardman, Reiad Chibah, Bob Smissen, Toby Deller, Andy Parker, Nick Barr, Rachel Bolt, Gustav Clarkson, Rusen Gunes, Peter Lale, Kate Musker, Bruce White (viola); Joe Knight , Sharon Beale, Melissa Phelps, Cathy Giles, Robin Firman, David Bucknall, Lionel Handy, Gillian Thoday, Nick Cooper , Maya Beiser, Ben Chappell, Caroline Dale, Caroline Dearney, John Heley, Paul Kegg, Joely Koos, Martin Loveday, Anthony Pleeth (cello); Pedro Eustache (flute); Djivan Gasparian (duduk); Simon Gunton, Dudley Bright, Jimmy Maynard, David Vines, Richard Edwards (trombone); Nick Hitchens, Owen Slade (tuba); Hugh Seenan, Laurence Davies, Jeff Bryant, Richard Clews, Simon Rayner, Jim Rattigan, Michael Thompson, Richard Berry, Tim Jackson, Nigel Black, Philip Eastop, David Pyatt, Martin Owen, John Fell Ryan (horns); Simon Chamberlain (piano); Stephen Henderson, Frank Ricotti, Bill Lockhart, Gary Kettel (percussion).
Audio Mixers: Tim Lauber; Braden Kimball; Denis Saint Amand; Alan Meyerson; Bill Talbott.
Liner Note Author: Edward Zwick.
Recording information: Air Studios, London, England; Fox Scoring, Los Angeles, CA; Olympic Studios, London, England; Remote Control Productions, Santa Monica, CA ; JNH Stud; The Village, Los Angeles, CA; Todd-AO Radford, Studio City, CA.
No stranger to scoring tension-filled films, composer James Newton Howard (THE VILLAGE, BATMAN BEGINS, KING KONG) created urgent and entrancing pieces for director Edward Zwick's 2006 African-set thriller, BLOOD DIAMOND. Enlisting renowned soloists such as singer Youssou N'Dour and duduk player Djivan Gasparyan, Howard also fills out his dense orchestral songs with performances by the Senegal Drum Ensemble, resulting in a beautiful yet often startling work.
The three cuts at the end of the score and official soundtrack for Blood Diamond are worth the price of the ticket alone: the Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars "Ankala," Emmanuel Jal and Abdel Cadir Salim's "Baai ," and Bal Burea's "When Da Dawg's Come Out to Play," with Masta Kent and Bullets Rhyme. These three cuts are masterful, poignant and rousing. That said, for a change James Newton Howard's score fits the material perfectly. It seems in recent years he's become less afraid of experimenting with world rhythms (check "Crossing the Bridge," "Fall of Freetown" and especially "Archer Sells Diamond") and big ass guitars ("Village Attack"). In other words, this score is a piece of music that truly does stand on its own apart from the film. There is a journey involved in listening as well as thinking of it in terms of the film itself. His cues are tight, circular and never too long. This is one of his most successful scores in a decade. ~ Thom Jurek