Babel (Gustavo Sanaolalla) [2 CD]

Description

SOUNDTRACK BABEL (2CD)As its title suggests, Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu s film revolves around the transcultural difficulties of human communication. But the linguistic dysfunction that drives the film s characters towards causal connection and inevitable tragedy has paradoxically inspired just the opposite on this adventurous musical mélange of a soundtrack. The meditative, often hypnotic fretboard inventions of Iñárritu s previous soundtrack collaborator, Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla (a 2005 Oscar winner for Brokeback Mountain), serve as the restless soul of interlocking plots in the film, the final chapter of a fatalistic trilogy that also includes the Santaolalla-scored Amores Perros and 21 Grams.

But on this expanded, double-disc collection, the South American composer s culture-bending film cues (including mastery of indigenous Arab stringed instruments and incorporating field recordings of Moroccan tribal music) also serve as artistic axes, reflective anchor points for a pop collection that s as ambitious and far-ranging as the film itself. While the "music from and inspired by" tag often indicates cynical record company marketing schemes, here it s an invitation to transcultural musical adventure that links Santaolalla s North African musical conjuring with the contemporary styles of Japan (the atmospherics of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Susumu Yolota, Shinichi Osawa s sly Earth, Wind & Fire/Fatboy Slim mashup, the teen pop of Takashi Fujii s "Oh My Juliet") and Tijuana (a generous sampling of effusive Norteño that includes Los Incomparables, Daniel Luna, and Agua Caliente). --Jerry McCulley