FEATURING

MUSIC FOR SHANTARAM

Colin Aguiar is a 19-time award-winning Canadian composer and was a child prodigy performing at two and writing music at ten. He is known for his specialization in unique scores and world music. He grew up living & traveling across parts of India, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Canada studying the music of various cultures before writing music for musicals, theatre and film. His music has won awards the world over in New York, London, Italy, Barcelona, Venezuela, Calcutta, Nairobi and on almost every continent.

He is the protégé of Oscar-winning composer, Mychael Danna with whom he worked on Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm” and the Academy Award-winning Score for Ang Lee’s, “The Life of Pi”. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

WHY I WANTED TO DO THIS

My heart pounded hard when I read that Shantaram might be turned into a show because… I love this book. It is a love letter to the city of my family’s origin of several generations. Unlike other projects about my homeland, I wanted Shantaram to bare the mark of authenticity.

Mumbai, the city of my parents and the city I lived & studied in, is a microcosm of my complex country. With 36 states, over 120 languages and over 6 religions, it sits within a nation of massive diversity. Merely by a person’s name, Indian audiences are able to tell what religion a person is and what region of the country they’re from. Where this becomes relevant to storytelling is when a character’s religion & geography denotes their very specific musical tradition. The names “Parbaker” or “Khader Khan” or “Cliff De Souza” each have three completely different musical genealogies, and thereby different musical identities as characters.

Very often when beginning an Indian-American hybrid score, I sit with the producers and discuss the ratio of how much Indian to American influence there should be. The balance is usually set by how much of an Indian signature the producers want to impart, or the distribution or audience demographics. But in any occasion, it has served as an asset to be fluent in both, the American & Indian traditions simultaneously. There is a deep satisfaction in conversing in the American musical vernacular but even if the score for Shantaram alluded to even a subtle Indian or character influences, it would be so nice if it was able to make authentic musical references.

Warmly,
Colin Aguiar

MUSIC

THE  AMERICAN-INDIAN  HYBRID  SOUND

Bombay Wedding Parade

Stylish techno meets opera in this thriller theme

Fly Suite

Classical Indian Ensemble

Cowboy In a Brown World

Chipkalis TV Theme

The Western Orchestra meets Indian instruments

Mumbai to New York

Indian Jazz

Square Roots

TV Sitcom theme

THE  AMERICAN  SOUND

In Gentle Battle

Epic American Western

Final Vision

Terminal CIA

Suspense | Action

EXTRAS

Asian Dystopia (music)

The first half, inspired by the score for Broadchurch

Construct (video)

Sci-fi. Recipient of 19 Best Score Awards

CONTACT
FIRST ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
SABRINA HUTCHINSON
(818) 399-4142
SHutchinson@FirstArtistsMgmt.com

FEATURING

MUSIC FOR SHANTARAM

ABOUTccc

Colin Aguiar is a 19-time award-winning Canadian composer and was a child prodigy performing at two and writing music at ten. He is known for his specialization in unique scores and world music. He grew up living & traveling across parts of India, the Middle East, Asia, Europe and Canada studying the music of various cultures before writing music for musicals, theatre and film. His music has won awards the world over in New York, London, Italy, Barcelona, Venezuela, Calcutta, Nairobi and on almost every continent.

He is the protégé of Oscar-winning composer, Mychael Danna with whom he worked on Ang Lee’s “The Ice Storm” and the Academy Award-winning Score for Ang Lee’s, “The Life of Pi”. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

WHY I WANTED TO DO THIS

My heart pounded hard when I read that Shantaram might be turned into a show because… I love this book. It is a love letter to the city of my family’s origin of several generations. Unlike other projects about my homeland, that have used Japanese or Arab or simply the incorrect musicals references, I wanted Shantaram to bare the mark of authenticity because of how much affection I carry for this book.

Mumbai, the city of my parents and the city I lived & studied in, is a microcosm of my complex country. With 36 states, over 120 languages and over 6 religions, it sits within a nation of massive diversity. Merely by a person’s name, Indian audiences are able to tell what religion a person is and what region of the country they’re from. Where this becomes relevant to storytelling is when a character’s religion & geography denotes their very specific musical tradition. The names “Parbaker” or “Khader Khan” or “Cliff De Souza” each have three completely different musical genealogies, and thereby different musical identities as characters.

Very often when beginning an Indian-American hybrid score, I sit with the producers and discuss the ratio of how much Indian to American influence there should be. The balance is usually set by how much of an Indian signature the producers want to impart, or the distribution or audience demographics. But in any occasion, it has served as an asset to be fluent in both, the American & Indian traditions simultaneously. There is a deep satisfaction in conversing in the American musical vernacular but even if the score for Shantaram alluded to even a subtle Indian or character influences, it would be so nice if it was able to make the correct, authentic musical references.

 

Warmly,
Colin Aguiar

MUSIC

THE  AMERICAN-INDIAN  HYBRID  SOUND

Bombay Wedding Parade

Stylish techno meets opera in this thriller theme

Fly Suite

Classical Indian Ensemble

Cowboy In a Brown World

Chipkalis TV Theme

The Western Orchestra meets Indian instruments

Mumbai to New York

Indian Jazz

Square Roots

TV Sitcom theme

THE  AMERICAN  SOUND

In Gentle Battle

Epic American Western

Final Vision

Terminal CIA

Suspense | Action

EXTRAS

Asian Dystopia (music)

The first half, inspired by the score for Broadchurch

Construct (video)

Sci-fi. Recipient of 19 Best Score Awards

CONTACT
FIRST ARTISTS MANAGEMENT
SABRINA HUTCHENSON
(818) 399-4142
SHutchinson@FirstArtistsMgmt.com