Black Panther – in Concert Live to Film

The giant screen looming high above and behind the orchestra is bright with the brilliant costumes of the female warriors and the blue and gold title of … Black PANTHER. The Concert Hall hums with a different buzz. It’s not your usual SSO audience. There are more families, young couples, hipsters, groupies – all MARVEL fans, all chatting in expectation … and many eating popcorn!

That’s Sydney Opera House! A place where you can expect the unexpected! Like internationally acclaimed film conductor Anthony Parnther, who conducted the original orchestral recording for Black Panther. And Massamba Diop, master of the Tama, the talking drum. Diop, who featured in the original soundtrack of the movie, has taken the voice of the Tama around the world.

With Parnther and Diop warming the audience – the former with his mellifluous voice, the latter with his cheeky smile, flickering fingers and unbounding energy – and the stage filled with the musicians of the SSO, their faces expectant, their instruments shining and twinkling in the lights, the atmosphere is even more electric.

The house lights dim, Parnther raises his baton … and this extraordinary experience begins, extraordinary because there is so much at which to wonder.

How often have they rehearsed?

How well must Parnther and Diop know both the script and the score?

How patient are the musicians as they wait and watch for Parnther’s baton to rise, and his fingers and face to convey mood, tempo, volume?

How do the voices and sound effects of the movies not distract them?

How many of the audience are watching the orchestra as well as the screen?

They certainly appreciate the talent of Massmba Diop. How could they not! If they are watching carefully, they will see how closely he follows the score, listens to the soundtrack, reacts to the words, rocks or sits forward, taut as a spring, always ready. And if they can see his face, they will see the smiles and the concentration and the passion for his art.

The score was composed by Academy Award winner Swedish composer Ludwig Göransson – Creed, Creed II, Venom, Tenet, and … Oppenheimer. The director of Black Panther, Ryan Coogler, wanted a musical score that grew with the pace and development of the film, and he turned to Göransson.

Accordingly, Göransson immersed himself in the music and culture of Africa. One of the “key components” of the soundtrack is the talking drum, unique to the region, but known by different names across the continent. Massamba Diop explains that the taking drum is “like a voice. They breathe, they talk, they say words like a human being”.

It certainly said words to the audience last night, especially when Diop played to them at the end of the film. Their appreciation of him and Parnther and the orchestra – and the movie of course! – was loud and resoundingly vociferous! What a special night!

Carol Wimmer

Images supplied by Marvel Studios.