"Film & TV Music Update"
-A.G.

Alan Silvestri
Lilo & Stitch
Release date: June 21

'With any piece of animation, you always have characters that can do a lot of unreal and surreal things. Yet, you still need to somehow help infuse them with real human emotion. In 'Lilo & Stitch,' (director) Chris Sanders, I think, was going for live-action sensibility. There is a big range of musical needs. Stitch is an alien created as the ultimate weapon, who is then banished to some far-off planet. He commandeers a ship and winds up on Earth, befriending a little girl who is also a misfit on her planet. As you can see, there is a lot of alien-style adventure and intrigue - all the stuff a Disney kid's film has.

"This film takes placein Hawaii, and we spent a good deal of time looking for some Hawaiian music to incorporate into the film. We found a fantastic Hawaiian artist named Mark Amalu. Most of the score was done with an orchestra and all its usual suspects instrumentation-wise. We did, however, use a lot of ethnic percussion on some of the Hawaiian pieces. One instrument, in particular, is called an ipu: It is plaqyed with the hand, but it's also banged on the floor. Interestingly, the guy who worked with us on a couple of these songs is what they call a kumu hula (hula master). These folks are amazing. They have their troops of people they teach to dance, work and the language. They are choreographers; they are writers - almost like the gurus of their people. When Mark performs with his group of people, he sits on the floor with his gourd and whacks the heck out of it. That's what they all dance and sint to - it's wild to watch!"

Directors: Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders
Composer: Alan Silvestri
Music Supervisor: Chris Montan
Soundtrack: Walt Disney Records

CLICK HERE to view the trailer.

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