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THE LEAD RUSH

Flavorlab Score for LEAD RUSH by Pure Earth

Project

Sometimes a job comes along that sparks our creativity, introduces us to new music a world away and has potential of making a difference in people’s lives. Lead Rush, a documentary from Pure Earth, a global nonprofit that addresses toxic hot spots on the planet, was one of those jobs.

Lead Rush tells the story of Senegalese village’s struggle to diagnose and then address widespread and catastrophic poisoning. Due to exposure from the informal harvesting of lead from car batteries.

Process

Hence, It’s a heavy tale to tell and we wanted to serve the film’s mission: to educate and ignite interest. Obviously, music from the area was a must for the score. We were familiar with classic Western African drumming styles, but this job gave us an opportunity to dive into the patterns and the rhythms of this part of the world. Two legends — drummer/composer Doudou Ndiaye Rose and singer/instrumentalist Baaba Maal — were our chief teachers and inspirations. If you’re not familiar with their work, we highly recommend you check them out.

INSPIRATIONS

The Score

In the end, the score was a fusion of hand drumming, nylon-stringed acoustic guitar and traditional African instruments. Layering was important to create a backdrop for some of the more emotional moments of the story. This job started with a phone call from someone who knows our work and wanted to pass along our name, hoping we were a fit. All in all it was a great one. The job was invigorating. The passion and focus that the director, Sarah Berg and writer, Claire Whittenbury had for this story was contagious.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION FILM SELECTION

This job started with a phone call from someone who knows our work and wanted to pass along our name, hoping we were a fit. It was a great one. The job was invigorating. The passion and focus that the director, Sarah Berg and writer, Claire Wittenbury had for this story was contagious.

Lead Rush was an official selection for World Health Organization’s Health For All Film Festival and we couldn’t be more proud to be part of the team.
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