Alberto Inglesias’s score for The Constant Gardener was nominated for an Oscar in 2006. African rhythms underpin much of the soundtrack to this film, set in Kenya.

Paul Clarvis says:

“The difficulty here was that it was scored parts for percussion, but I needed to make them feel African and to get the sounds right. I spent three days scratching my head, and that was the first time I’ve ever had to take a part home because it was too difficult to read. It was very particular, and I had to work out what drums to use and where to play open sounds on the drums to get them talking.”

“Alberto is a fantastic writer. Generally composers know a lot about harmony but don’t seem to have twigged how to get drums to sound African, so that they’re not playing in blocks, but rather in layers that are offset against each other.”

“Most of Western music begins and ends on one, and my job when I’m doing African things is to blur those edges to make the music skip along.”

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