(2002, Four Worlds Trading Co.)

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The space-delineating properties consistent within Michael Brook’s music seem tailor-made for the larger canvas afforded by the IMAX film format. His score for David Douglas’ 1992 documentary The Fires of Kuwait led to other opportunities in this idiom, such as director Bruce Neibaur’s 2002 nature film, India: Kingdom of the Tiger.

For the latter film, Michael functioned solely as composer, creating frameworks within which to channel the improvisations of several master Indian musicians. Given Michael’s long-standing affection for Indian music and the influence that the classical forms of the subcontinent have had on his own writing, the match of composer and subject matter could not have been more apt. Also, India… afforded Michael the chance to work with master Indian musicians residing in the U.S.: Deepak Ram, who contributed bansuri flute and tabla drumming; sitarist Shujaat Khan, son of the late Ustad Vilayat Khan and one-third of the world music supergroup Ghazal; and the celestial voice of Lakshmi Shankar, among the greatest of North Indian raga singers. Each of the Indian soloists was recorded at Michael’s Lavanderia Studio, set in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.

To this elite cast of players, Michael added a full string section whose arrangements (once again, the product of collaboration with Richard Evans from Peter Gabriel’s band) took inspiration from the swooping dynamics of India’s ‘Bollywood’ film orchestras. The strings were recorded at Real World Studios, the site of several of Michael’s previous artistic triumphs, and were led by studio veteran Gavin Wright, known to some as co-founder of the Penguin Café Orchestra. The U.K. sessions also provided an opportunity to integrate the talents of Lebanese violinist Claude Chaloub (whose self-titled solo album had been produced by Michael).