Cameron - The Movie
SOUNDTRACK
The music I composed for Cameron came as a big surprise. The events of 9/11 had ended my singer-songwriter career and killed a record deal in negotiations that would have released my debut recording. (After 9/11, the label saw no viability in promoting an Arab-American artist). In the years that followed, I felt my gift to compose music had died with that lost dream. But as I progressed in writing the epic drama A Demand of Blood, something miraculous happened. My sensibilities about the joys and sufferings of the men in my story brought forth the music that expressed those emotions. Not knowing what would become of the music, my producer and I recorded eleven pieces, and eight made their way into the film.
My classical piano education included Beethoven, Schubert, and Chopin. As I developed as a composer some early influences were Enya and Lorena McKennitt. For the film's soundtrack, my musical influences include Nick Cave and Warren Ellis’ soundtrack The Assassination of Jesse James, Ennio Morricone’s The Mission, John Barry’s Dances With Wolves, and Randy Edelman and Trevor Jones’ The Last of the Mohicans.
Arrangements and piano: Chris Rosser. Violin: Josh GoForth, Ginger Kowal and Amy Lovinger.
Cello: Franklin Keel and Sarah Moor.
Viola: Kara Poorbaugh.
Acoustic bass: Eliot Wadopian.
Cherokee flute: Matthew Tooni.
Oboe: Kathryn Potter.
Recorded at Sound Temple Studios, Asheville, NC. This music is dedicated to the memory of my mother who sacrificially gave me a classical piano education and never stopped believing in me.
SOUNDTRACK SAMPLES
TRACK NOTES
Place of the New Green – I dreamt of walking through a house with green walls that seemed to echo beautiful, haunting music. I woke up, went to the piano, and played the melody I'd heard. At the time, I was visiting near the ancient Cherokee town of Echoy, which means The Place of the New Green—that soft green that unfurls in spring—just as I’d seen in my dream. For Cameron, the metaphor rings true, as surely the New World is for him a place of the new green.
Lochaber – Cameron’s 2,000-acre plantation in South Carolina reflects the man he has become.
Birth of George Cameron – On the night his first child is born, Cameron composes a melody on violin, echoing hope for a future bright with promise.
Once a Great Nation – Dragging Canoe returns to find his towns in smoldering ruins.
Beloved No More – Cameron looses favor with the Cherokees, who’d once called him Beloved Man.
Waiting to Kill – A night before battle, one soldier encounters his simultaneous lust and dread for war.
Death Awaits – When death is inevitable, but has yet to come.
Mourning Ring – Regrets can burden a man’s soul.