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Saturday, June 16, 2007

News from Costa Communications


From Costa Communications

AWARD-WINNING COMPOSER GEORGE S. CLINTON SCORES HBO FILMS "BURY MY HEART AT WOUNDED KNEE"

(Hollywood, CA) Grammy Award nominated composer George S. Clinton features master Lakota flutist and recording artist John Two-Hawks on his score for the HBO original film "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee." The film, starring Aidan Quinn and Anna Paquin, is directed by Yves Simoneau. Last Month, Clinton received the prestigious Richard Kirk Award for outstanding career achievement at the BMI Film & Television Awards.
Based on Dee Brown's best-selling novel of the same name, the film examines the overwhelming impact that the United States' westward expansion had on American Indian culture, focusing on the preceding events to the tragic Sioux massacre of 1890.
Composer George S. Clinton researched Native American music to create the score. By combining the sounds of Two-Hawks' Lakota flute, an 80-piece orchestra, and a 32-voice male choir, Clinton creates a score that accurately reflects the due respect for Native American culture conveyed through the film. "I had the choir sing Lakota text at times to further integrate the Native American and the traditional orchestral elements of the score," says Clinton. In order to portray the forced assimilation of Native Americans during the time period, Clinton intertwined the flute and the piano to thematically represent both the Native American and so-called "civilized" dispositions of main character Charles Eastman. Clinton wrote the complete 120-minute score within a mere four weeks.
Clinton's musical innovation and versatility has allowed him to create memorable scores for a variety of different genres including his most recent work, "The Cleaner." His other credits range from such diverse films as the hit comedy "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" and its blockbuster sequels to the hit martial arts fantasy "Mortal Kombat" and its sequel. Other noteworthy projects include Zalman King's "Red Shoe Diaries," John Waters's "A Dirty Shame"; Tim Allen's "Joe Somebody"; Kevin Costner's "3000 Miles to Graceland"; "The Astronaut's Wife", starring Charlize Theron and Johnny Depp; and the sexy thriller "Wild Things."
Along with his film projects, Clinton has also written several concert works, three musicals, and songs recorded by such artists as Michael Jackson, Joe Cocker, Smokey Robinson and Johnny Mathis. In addition, he has won six BMI Awards including the Richard Kirk Award. With past recipients such as Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, the Richard Kirk Award is given annually to a composer who has made significant contributions to the realm of film and television music.

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