Interview: Ramin Djawadi, composer of Game Of Thrones

When composer Ramin Djawadi met for the first time the animators of "Game Of Thrones", D.B. Weiss and David Benioff, they were pretty clear about what they did do not want in their music dramatic fantasy theme. The HBO mastodon, which debuted in 2011 and ushered in its eighth and final season on Sunday, April 14, could not have lutes or flutes in its score, as these light wind instruments are too frequently used in most movies fantastic. The score of "Game Of Thrones" was supposed to be current, Djawadi told the Recording Academy just days before the launch of Season 8. And so the low octave cello takes center stage in the epic sequence and poignant "Game Of Thrones".

Eight years later, calling "Game Of Thrones" a phenomenon of pop culture would reduce the impact of the series. To date, the series has received 47 Primetime Emmy Awards and the German-Iranian composer has been awarded by GRAMMY for his work on season 7 at the 60th GRAMMY Awards. He even took the show on the road, Literally, with "Game Of Thrones: The Live Concert Experience", a tour in all the arenas that took place in 2017 and 2018 and featured Djawadi at the helm of an orchestra and a concert. a choir of 80 people, representing the highlights of the stage score.

Djawadi, who began his career at Berklee College of Music and apprenticed to a well-known music composer and GRAMMY laureate Hans Zimmer, was certainly a known entity before "Thrones", after nibbling a previous GRAMMY sign for his work on Iron Man. Since "GoT", he worked on another epic high level of HBO: "Westworld".

While Djawadi is about to officially close this chapter of his career, the Recording Academy has met the famous composer to talk about the last season of "Thrones" – or at least, given the notoriously unobtrusive and spoiler-phobic character that surrounds the show. promotion, conversation around the last season would be more precise phrasing. We also discuss his debut in the film and television scoring industry, how he met Weiss and Benioff, adapting the characters' musical themes to their stories, and what is the next step for "Game Of Thrones: The Live concert experience ".

So, while you are about to say goodbye to "Game Of Thrones", would you say that the last few months have been pretty intense?

Ramin Djawadi: Yeah, you could say that. I mean intense and bittersweet. It 's very moving for me to write this last season, I have to say it.

I can not even imagine! I want to talk about Thrones, but before that I would like to know more about how you started composing for TV and cinema. I noticed that you were an apprentice at Hans Zimmer. How did you connect with him originally?

Djawadi: It was a complete coincidence, in fact. The connection was established through the intermediary of a good friend of mine in Germany, who owns a guitar shop, and whenever I visited my family in Germany, I see also, but we only talked and he said, "Oh, so you want [compose]. I know someone who knows someone who knows Hans. "It is so that the link has been established.

Then I knew I was in a plane. I was living in Boston at the time because it was there that I went to school. Then I knew I was in a plane for Los Angeles and I started working as an badistant in a studio. At first, I did not make music. I literally worked in the engine room, taking care of computers, samplers and everything else. Then, little by little, I was allowed to work on some projects. My big breakthrough was the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, and that's when I started the arrangements.

[Zimmer] has been an incredible mentor to me, not just musically, but I still think how the meanings are made and how to be organized with all the amount of music to write, and there are so many other aspects to it. company other than mere musical writing.

Well, as a person who is now able to mentor a younger generation of arrangers, what lessons, if any, have you shared with the people who work for you?

Djawadi: I feel his way of working, then having apprentices and doing these things as a mentor, I find it amazing. And it's something that I do with my team, where people start for me as badistants and technical badistants. Then they also progress and make music. I think this system works incredibly well, because I feel that when you come out of college or whatever your musical background, again, you can not learn a lot about writing and music. But there are all these other things in the industry that you can not really learn unless you really are there. I think the best way to learn is to be in the presence of an established composer. I think it's something that has not always been done over the years and it works incredibly well.

I know you did a lot of commercial work before "Game of Thrones". When you were planning to hold the series, was there an audition process? You have hardly worked on the series, is that right?

Djawadi: The process was actually very organic. I mean, David [Benioff] and Dan [Weiss] had pretty much reduced everything to me, sort of. My name was suggested and I think they liked some of my previous work and that they were then interested in meeting me. They sent the first two episodes and I watched them, I loved them. Then a meeting was organized and we met and just talked about the show. It's really, I think, where he just clicked.

Yeah, I almost did not do it because I was at the time when it all happened, I was already very busy with the existing work, and I I said to myself, "Okay, that's so much [work]"Of course, we were all aware of how much work needed to be done, and I did not think I knew if I had enough time to do it.

Yeah. And you did not know what it would become.

Djawadi: No, and I was so involved in the series, and especially especially David and Dan, again, we got along well at the first meeting, and I just said, "I'm not going I do not want to sleep until two or three weeks a month, and I just want to work on the show, I just want to be part of that. "And looking back, I'm so happy that everything has happened like that. Pretty incredible.

Were you aware of novels at the time?

Djawadi: No, I was not there. I mean, I knew of the books, but I did not read them, and today I have not read them. When I started the series, I just thought, you know, now that Season 8 is over, my plan is to pick up the books and read them, but by that time, I thought that "I'm going to be there." it was useless to try to catch up, and I'm just going to let the season guide me with the plot, and of course David and Dan will guide me musically with what I have to write.

What do you remember about David and Dan describing the mood and tone of the show and how it influenced your arrangements in 2011?

Djawadi: They really had an incredible vision. Some of the things that they said were not even what I should to do but it was more things that I should not That's what has really guided me well. One of those famous things that we do not care about and that told me right away: "We do not want medieval flutes, because I know we have dragons and we have swords and all that, so no flute medieval. " So I knew, okay, I can not have it.

They were looking for a little more of his contemporary, although overall the score was a traditional instrument, but it was just the style of writing that they described as being a bit more contemporary. They said, "Look, you can use synthesizers," because there really are a lot of synthesizers in the score. It's about organic, but they wanted the contemporary.

Then the cello appeared, which is the main instrument of the show, and we all agreed that this could be an excellent instrument.

When you became familiar with the series, did you ever consult George R.R. Martin to determine the score?

Djawadi: No, I mainly worked only with David and Dan. I mean, I've met George several times at several "Game of Thrones" events, usually the first ones, and of course I told him how amazing I find [he is]; he is at the heart of everything. Finding something of this complex is simply amazing.

It's pretty funny, for example, with "The Rains of Castamere," the lyrics are taken from the book. I therefore have the impression of having collaborated with George and writing a song together, where I wrote the melody and where he wrote the lyrics. So, I always smile about it.

Absolutely. And I know you have arranged leitmotifs for all the characters and houses. What is the first thing to take into account to determine the recurring theme of this character?

Djawadi: I guess the arc of global history. I'm kind of talking a little bit about words, but if I look at the character's path or what he's going through, my job is to improve it with music, so I'll look at it. As for example the Stark theme, all the Starks have been separated, they are all located in different places. You know, there's a play in one of the first plays of season 1 where she's playing … we call this piece "Goodbye Brother," where Jon bids farewell to Bran, and these are the farewells that always give a slightly sad tone. for me. That's why I thought the Stark theme should be very moving, almost a sadness, and that's how I always try to deal with these different themes.

To refine Jon one second, I mean, he actually deceasedand then he comes back. And it is said that whenever the Lord of Light brings back someone, we never come back as before. Do major changes like this in the story of a character determine the evolution of their leitmotif?

Djawadi: Yes, that's a good example, because most of the time we use the Stark theme for him. But yes, when he died and when he came back, we thought, "Oh, maybe it's time to give him his own theme, so I've written a whole new theme for him." C & Was in season six.

Then, in season seven when the relationship with Dany occurred, we felt the need [to create] a theme of love that we do for them, so now we had yet another theme that we could use for him or for them. That's how it develops.

Even with Arya. She kind of started doing her own thing, and that's when we felt good, it's time to give her her own theme. Each season, we look where these character arcs go and how we should approach them.

Have there ever been clues or hints in music? Say, a little of Dany's Targaryen motif embedded in Jon's motive as a secret Targaryen? Because for a long time we did not know sure that Jon was the son of Rhaegar Targaryen …

Djawadi: Yeah, no. There are certainly clues in music, and we think about it. Either there are scenes where they can work together. It's always something we look for, because we consider music as another character. So we think that there are really a lot of stories. I always like to say that we can direct the audience in the right way or the wrong way with the score. It is good to have these motifs and themes that are so attached to the characters, houses or plots. It works really well.

Well, as we have already noted, it must be a moving experience to say goodbye to a project of this magnitude. In this case, are there plans in place to resume "Game of Thrones: Live Concert Experience" on the road?

Djawadi: I mean, that would certainly make sense. At this point, I can not say too much about it, but I would like it. We did our first tour, which was incredibly amazing, and the fact that we could even do a tour on this scale was an absolute dream come true for me to play this music in front of an audience.

We did it after season six, and the new one updated the show after season seven. So it would be perfectly logical that it ends now to update the show and create a full show because at Present the show was always just not complete, just as the seasons were not. I will do it step by step. We'll see what happens.

Have you ever attended a "Game Of Thrones" concert?