After the premiere shows of "The Peasants”, a "painting animation" based upon the award winning novel by Poland's Władysław Reymont, reviewers underlined not only the striking visuals but also the importance of the music engulfing the feature in its unique atmosphere. The music stood out to the point, where the decision was made to submit it for Oscars in the "Best Original Score" category. Much to the surprise of many, this widely-discussed score was composed and curated by Polish rapper and producer L.U.C., who created numerous ambitious abstract hip-hop projects over the last two decades. Yet, working on "The Peasants", he debuts in the film domain - with a bang, though. And quite a loud one, too.
The soundscape he created plays an important role in the film - and forms one of its integral parts. It provides a background for the plot and builds the atmosphere complementing the picture. In a recent interview L.U.C. - or Łukasz Rostkowski, if you prefer - admitted that as soon as the idea was presented to him, he was certain that he simply had to take this challenge on. Actually, he wanted to get into the film music world for some time already, but to no avail - as it is a “very hermetic environment”, as the artist put it. Ultimately, although it was still not clear if he'd be given the job, L.U.C. prepared a demo music for the concept trailer - which is not typical for someone of his status, to say the least. The gamble paid off though - his creation won the hearts of the producers behind "The Peasants" - and then, the real work began, described by the artist as a “four-year film academy”.
In total, nearly a hundred outstanding Polish artists, hailing from various branches of the local world music / folk / ethno circles, are responsible for the final result - including Kayah, Tęgie Chłopy, Sutari, Dagadana, Laboratorium Pieśni, Maria Pomianowska, Kwiat Jabłoni, T.eTno, Karolina Skrzyńska, Tomasz Chyła and many more. L.U.C. successfully navigated through the rough seas of combining an effort of such a horde of various high-profile household names - and sees the process as a great honour and lesson. "I appear in this feature not only as a composer, but also as a co-creator" - the artist said. "I had total freedom to express myself, which is what I love the most - when the music starts to dance with the visuals, creating multimedia landscapes. I wanted to retain the traditional folk band style - but I also wished to give this music a distinct character and clarity. It was a fascinating journey - as despite my 20 years on stage and in the studio, now I was discovering music again".
The naysayers, coming mostly from the circles of "hardcore Polish folk traditionalists", scoff at the score pointing out that it is a roughly modernised amalgam of numerous musical traditions from various parts of Poland, not really true neither to the time nor to the place of the presented story. Similar critical voices are raised by the same circles in regard to the visual aspects of the movie and some points of its scenario as well.
Still, even though these critical voices of cultural and musical experts are most likely true - is the meticulous reconstruction of the period's local features really the most important thing about "The Peasants"? Even if the film is steeped in local folklore - it is not a documentary, after all...
Whatever your opinion may be - before forming it, you should definitely give "The Peasants OST" a good listen, and - if possible - see the movie as well. I dare to say, it will certainly be a time well spent.
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