"VARIOUS ARTISTS: "Babel" (Concord)
The soundtrack to the movie "Babel" sounds like it comes from everywhere, and nowhere, at once.
That's by design. The film knits together cultures and story lines, blurring place, context and language (hence the "Babel" title).
For the ambitious musical component to his film, director Alejandro González Iñárritu tapped longtime collaborator Gustavo Santaolalla, who earlier put together the witty rock-en-español soundtrack for Iñárritu's "Amores Perros," and wrote the brittle, Oscar-winning score for "Brokeback Mountain."
For "Babel" the Argentine-born Santaolalla roamed the globe - selectively. The album is neither an encyclopedic race through ethnic styles nor an "It's a Small World After All" serenade. Instead it concentrates on music from Morocco (where key scenes in the movie take place), Mexico (where Iñárritu hails from) and Japan, with quick side trips to the U.K. and U.S.
For the Moroccan influence, Santaolalla taught himself to play the oud (a kind of Middle Eastern lute). He also made use of traditional Gnawa percussionists, who provide the CD's most haunting and tactile aspects. The hallowed quality of Morocco's music breaks up the album's whimsical forays into Mexican norteño and cumbia, which are each laced with florid accordions and zany beats. Along the way, Santaolalla employs everyone from the Mexican rap-rock act Control Machete and the Tijuana avant-gardists Nortec Collective to Japan's Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Fatboy Slim, who mashes up a hit by Earth Wind & Fire with a cymbal hook from Steve Miller. There's also one ennui-laden song from British art-balladeer David Sylvain.
There's nothing pure or faithful about any of these styles but that's the whole point: Santaolalla wants to make up a musical world of his own."
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/story/484196p-407605c.html
