Disney Music Group has released the Tiger Original Score Soundtrack featuring the music from Disneynature's all-new original feature film Tiger, which streams on Disney+ beginning on Earth Day, April 22. Disneynature has a rich tradition of infusing its films with extraordinary music that elevates the signature storytelling the films have put forth for 15 years. "Music is so essential - it's at the heart of every great film," says producer Roy Conli. "Whether you want to enhance the drama or highlight the comedy in any film- animated, live action, nature documentary - music plays a huge role. What's really wonderful about our score for Tiger is that it really provides the flavor of the location. Nitin Sawhney, an amazingly accomplished musician, transports us all to India. Those forests are so incredibly beautiful - they're home to a population of tigers that has doubled in 20 years. And the music celebrates all of it."
According to Sawhney, the score does that and more. "[It's] a combination of dramatic tension, familial warmth, solitude, yearning and visceral aggression," he says. "I needed to find a musical vocabulary that would reflect all of that. Working closely with the directors enabled me to gain insight into the history of the different tigers and their respective journeys. The music incorporates powerful beats, orchestral soundscapes, strong inflections of Indian bansuri, vocal pyrotechnics and laments. All this is brought together with themes and motifs to accentuate the emerging narrative of a family of tigers struggling to survive."
The score features specific themes designed to represent Ambar, her cubs and the habitat they call home. Says Berlowitz, "We were immediately drawn to working with Nitin as he is one of the most exciting composers and musicians working today. He's famous for combining Asian and other worldwide influences, drawing on a deep understanding of Indian classical music and infusing this into a film score that also works for the classic storytelling required for a broad Disney family audience. Nitin's themes draw on classic Indian ragas which means that they immediately feel authentic to the location of the film."
The composer paid special attention to the film's protagonist. "Ambar's theme came to me when I was watching the first scenes with Ambar and her cubs," he says. "There is a wistful sense of nurturing and bonding that I found with the melody beautifully expressed by Ian Burdge's cello. Ambar's theme is revisited many times during the course of the narrative and helps to bring her lonely struggle into focus."
Adds Berlowitz, "Nitin employs sargams in drut, which is extremely fast-paced Indian singing to bring energy to the build over the title and also the finale of the waterfall sequence as well as the repeating female vocal over a key scene. Nitin was also able to draw on his comedy background when scoring the humor of the cubs and characterizing their personalities musically."
The film's emotional range also includes more tenuous moments when the male tiger threatens Ambar and her cubs. "I didn't want to portray Shankar as an out and out villain," says Sawhney. "I did want to score him with an appropriate sense of power and menace. His theme is uncompromisingly epic, majestic and full of threat."
The score features unique elements that promise to bring it to life. Says Sawhney, "I was fortunate to record some wonderful musicians. Ashwin Srinivasan, a renowned bansuri player who I have collaborated with many times, brought his vocal and instrumental skills to the stunning visuals. He also helped to coordinate the other Indian musicians who contributed their virtuosic talents to the film, notably singer Ankita Joshi, violinist Yadnesh Raikar and the tabla player Vinayak Netke."
According to the composer, the full score was recorded with an orchestra featuring 62 string players. "We focused on strings with the orchestra as many of the other sounds were covered within my own studio. It was amazing, as always, to hear the orchestra bring all the musical elements to life and give them weight."