Kite Runner Soundtrack CD

Composer: Alberto Iglesias.
Personnel: Sussan Deyhim (vocals).
Recording information: Cata Studios, Madrid, Spain; Conway Studios; Remote Control Productions; Warner Bros. Eastwood Scoring Stage, CA.
Photographer: Phil Bray.
Arrangers: Jorge Magaz; David Cerrejón; José Villalobos.
Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel THE KITE RUNNER was turned into a critically acclaimed 2007 film. Its soundtrack contributes to the overall power of the screen adaptation, and provides a memorable listening experience on its own. The album comprises the rich and heady score by Alberto Iglesias (known primarily for scoring Pedro Almovodar's films) that blends the exotic appeal of Afghani music with more Western themes, as well as some stand-alone tracks by popular Afghani artists Ahmad Zahir and Ehsan Aman. The presence of these two respected musicians represents their respective recording comebacks, another distinctive feature of the collection.
For director Marc Forster's film adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's novel The Kite Runner, Spanish score composer Alberto Iglesias (an Academy Award nominee for The Constant Gardener who has written music for many of Pedro Almodovar's films) was taken out of his comfort zone in having to come up with music to accompany the story of the lives of two boys growing up against the backdrop of the recent history of Afghanistan, including the Soviet invasion and the rise of the Taliban, a story that runs up to the early 21st century in San Francisco, to which one of the now grown boys has immigrated. Iglesias employs a full orchestra, the Hollywood Studio Symphony, but for much of the soundtrack, it serves largely as a backdrop to music with distinct Middle Eastern and Indian flavors, using a variety of ethnic instruments including the tabla as a major element in the percussion section. Nylon-stringed guitars played by Javier Crespo, Heitor Pereira (aka Heitor T.P.), and Ramon Stagnaro also lead the arrangements frequently. Here and there, source music is used in the form of period tracks by Afghan singers Ahmad Zahir and Ehsan Aman. The best mixture of symphonic and ethnic percussion is found in the lively "Kite Tournament." The last couple of cues, "Fly a Kite" and "Reading the Letter," are the only ones really dominated by the string orchestra, and they have a new age feel that may seem odd to the listener after all the Middle Eastern accents, even if they are appropriate to following the story in the film itself. Iglesias succeeds in a challenging assignment here. ~ William Ruhlmann