Vanessa Obioha
The new Netflix western film ‘The Harder They Fall’ by Jeymes Samuel was quite a buzz when the trailer was released, mainly because Nigeria’s Afrobeat legend Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’ song was featured.
The song titled ‘Let’s Start’ is from Fela’s 1971 live recording with his band Afrika 70 and featured renowned drummer Ginger Baker.
In the film which tells the story of an outlaw seeking revenge, the song was used during the fight between two female outlaws Trudy (Regina King) and Mary (Zazie Beatz). Just as Mary entered the dye barn to duel with Trudy, the intro of the song was cued in:
“We gonna play for you our first tune tonight,
And the first tune is called ‘O l’oun t’awa se n’yara. Je k’abere,’ which means let’s start what we have come into the room to do.”
The clash of the horns, cymbals and drums set off the fight between the two and extends to scenes of other characters dueling.
In a New York Times report, Samuel was quoted as saying that the music is cowboy. “That music is western. How come this music has never met the Old West before? How come that music has never been firstly in cinema, but especially in cowboy? It fits perfectly.”
Music is mostly used to reflect the mood and tone of scenes in a film. Sometimes, a contrasting sound can be used to show the mood of a scene. For instance, a calm song can be used in a chaotic scene and vice versa but this is often deployed in comedic scenes. Generally, music should convey to the viewer the unseen consequences of an onscreen action or match with the emotion of the character.
While it is understandable that Samuel’s choice of this particular song tilts more to the forceful and upbeat sounds, the song however has nothing to do with the fighting scene. The song’s message is sensuous and not violent, and since everything about a film conveys meaning, ‘Let’s Start’ is not the perfect choice.
Samuel, who has Nigerian blood coursing through his veins and is also the younger brother to renowned musician Seal, is not new to music. His music is known for its cinematic element, therefore for his feature film debut, the score is filled with songs from mostly the Black race — an ambitious goal Samuel set out to do with the film which had mostly black lead characters. According to the New York Times, Samuel aimed to counter two tropes of traditional westerns with ‘The Harder They Fall’: people of colour shown as less than human; and women appearing subservient and less than men.
He had Idris Elba playing the crime boss Rufus Buck while Jonathan Majors played Nat Love, the outlaw keen on killing Rufus. Each of the characters had a female companion. For Elba, it is King’s character, while Majors and Beatz stick together.
With Fela’s vast catalogue of music, Samuel may have found a suitable song for the scene. Songs like ‘Opposite People’ ‘Sorrows, Tears and Blood’ or ‘Zombie’ would have reflected that scene and still add the western zing to it.
