Uploaded November 2018 | Updated September 2026, 7 minutes ago
This snippet from "The Arctic & Antarctica" film is the most humorous one! What can be funnier than clumsy penguins and playful seals? When composing music for the penguins scenes I tried to find the rhythms that reflect the way penguins are walking. I looked for ethnic instruments and when I heard African Bolon it "clicked". I added some more ethnic percussion like Calabash and claves to simulate birds sounds. Then came wooden mallets for the melody that was a bit on the edge between being funny and being bluesy. You know, those birds, while being funny, are stuck in that desolate distant land - it sounds a bit blue, isn't it?
Seals scene? Same mallets with the same vibes in the melody. However, I chose to add Tuba into the mix, going for some kind of an old circus theme, funny and cartoon-ish.
If you missed the first snippet, "Wind Elegy", below is a copy of what these snippets are all about ;-)
Coming soon! The soundtrack album for the first documentary that I scored. The film was directed and produced by our friend, Liss Ross, who visited both frozen lands: Arctic and Antarctica.
arcticantarcticafilm.com
Nature themes can be heard in my music quite often, yet it was intriguing and challenging to write music about the Arctic and Antarctica – places I’ve never been to myself. What music could suit those frozen deserts? Ambient, haunting and cold are the first epithets coming to one’s mind, yet this relatively short film was packed with different, often contrasting moods. Of course, there was a place for the haunting and ambient atmosphere but it was so much more: the adventurous journey, playful encounters, diving into mysterious deeps, edgy life-threatening situations and a sweet nostalgia when it was the time to bid farewell.
These were the scenes and the moods I aimed at writing the music for: different emotions, different styles, different instruments – the whole world of music coming together to meet at the Earth poles. There was a soaring vocal ballad inviting you to the Arctic and Antarctica. There was a Latin tango of the journey to those distant lands, driven by ethnic percussion, groovy bass, sweet accordion and a singing sax. There was a humorous swing and rag with tribal ethnic drums, percussion and... tuba! Tuba always sounds a bit funny and cartoon-ish to my ears – so were the penguins and seals, playful and clumsy. There was a dark mysterious ambient synth taking you to the freezing underwater. There was a tribal vocalization, primeval and shamanistic, and there was an ethereal elegy with an exotic eastern touch. A song and a tango, a swing and a blues, a groove and a rag, a ballad and an elegy, a nocturne and a requiem – all those were inspired by watching Liss’s film.
These days with the permission of Liss I am posting some snippets from the film, accompanied by the music I composed for it. I hope you will be inspired as much by watching and listening to it!
The album is available for preorder with the immediate download of the main theme song:
Bandcamp: milana.bandcamp.com/album/the-arctic-antarctica
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/album/the-arctic-antarctica-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1397137281
Amazon: amazon.com/gp/product/B07DMRVF2X
This snippet from "The Arctic & Antarctica" film is the most humorous one! What can be funnier than clumsy penguins and playful seals? When composing music for the penguins scenes I tried to find the rhythms that reflect the way penguins are walking. I looked for ethnic instruments and when I heard African Bolon it "clicked". I added some more ethnic percussion like Calabash and claves to simulate birds sounds. Then came wooden mallets for the melody that was a bit on the edge between being funny and being bluesy. You know, those birds, while being funny, are stuck in that desolate distant land - it sounds a bit blue, isn't it?
Seals scene? Same mallets with the same vibes in the melody. However, I chose to add Tuba into the mix, going for some kind of an old circus theme, funny and cartoon-ish.
If you missed the first snippet, "Wind Elegy", below is a copy of what these snippets are all about ;-)
Coming soon! The soundtrack album for the first documentary that I scored. The film was directed and produced by our friend, Liss Ross, who visited both frozen lands: Arctic and Antarctica.
arcticantarcticafilm.com
Nature themes can be heard in my music quite often, yet it was intriguing and challenging to write music about the Arctic and Antarctica – places I’ve never been to myself. What music could suit those frozen deserts? Ambient, haunting and cold are the first epithets coming to one’s mind, yet this relatively short film was packed with different, often contrasting moods. Of course, there was a place for the haunting and ambient atmosphere but it was so much more: the adventurous journey, playful encounters, diving into mysterious deeps, edgy life-threatening situations and a sweet nostalgia when it was the time to bid farewell.
These were the scenes and the moods I aimed at writing the music for: different emotions, different styles, different instruments – the whole world of music coming together to meet at the Earth poles. There was a soaring vocal ballad inviting you to the Arctic and Antarctica. There was a Latin tango of the journey to those distant lands, driven by ethnic percussion, groovy bass, sweet accordion and a singing sax. There was a humorous swing and rag with tribal ethnic drums, percussion and... tuba! Tuba always sounds a bit funny and cartoon-ish to my ears – so were the penguins and seals, playful and clumsy. There was a dark mysterious ambient synth taking you to the freezing underwater. There was a tribal vocalization, primeval and shamanistic, and there was an ethereal elegy with an exotic eastern touch. A song and a tango, a swing and a blues, a groove and a rag, a ballad and an elegy, a nocturne and a requiem – all those were inspired by watching Liss’s film.
These days with the permission of Liss I am posting some snippets from the film, accompanied by the music I composed for it. I hope you will be inspired as much by watching and listening to it!
The album is available for preorder with the immediate download of the main theme song:
Bandcamp: milana.bandcamp.com/album/the-arctic-antarctica
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/album/the-arctic-antarctica-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1397137281
Amazon: amazon.com/gp/product/B07DMRVF2X
