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Date	Original Topic
21st September 2002	Zulu film theme By Dave When I was about 10 yrs old I had the misfortune to view the film "Zulu"...At the local picture house,with my father and older brother.The misfortune was I had just viewed the best film I would ever see in my life,and nothing else would compere (Private Ryan was a good 2nd place) Listening to Radio 4 tonight the theme music came 8th out of 50 ,I think, listening to the 30 secs of score just on the radio made me realalise what a great piece of music it was, The "Men of Harlech" singing duel tends to push it back in the memory.....Anyone any ideas were I can locate the original music score of the film. I have worn out countless videos of the film, but oh to be watching it for the first time again!!...Great site by the way something to be gained with every visit! Regards Dave
Date	Replies
21st September 2002	Alex Rossiter Dave , i listened to that as well , 8th is a great place but listening to the competition it should have at least been 3rd , you could obtaina copy through kazza (download site ) at www.kazza.com or any other music download programs , hope this helps regards alex
21st September 2002	Ian Essex Dave, The Zulu theme turns up on a lot of film related C.D's. But there is one called Zulu by John Barry which has the original score on it, with the opening narration by Richard Burton as well. Can often by found in the easy listening or film section of your local music shop.
22nd September 2002	John ZULU was the first movie I can recall watching that made me want to go out and buy the soundtrack album. All I can say is, if you buy it, prepare to be disappointed. I certainly was. ZULU was recorded at CTS Studios, Bayswater, London. The recording engineer was Eric Tomlinson. The soundtrack album, released in 1964 by Ember Records (and reissued on CD by Silva Screen Records in 1988) is a poor remix of the original tracks. (By 'original tracks' is meant what was recorded for the film itself -- most scores are rerecorded for album release). The Ember release lacks the depth, clarity, and power of the music as heard in the film -- so much so, that I was under the impression for years that it must have been a rerecording, done not only with a smaller orchestra, but with different orchestrations. Inexplicable, given that John Barry was the album's producer. In 1974, Barry left England to live and travel abroad. He couldn't take everything with him, so he left some antique furniture and the manuscripts for all of his scores with his former business manager. When he returned in the 1980's, he discovered that the former business manager had died -- no trace of his furniture or scores has ever been found. So, for the 1999 rerecording done for Silva Records, Barry's regular orchestrator, Nic Raine, reconstructed the score 'by ear'. The result was even more disappointing than the Ember release -- although recorded once again at CTS Studios using the same number of musicians as the original sessions (4 horns, 3 trumpets, 4 trombones, 1 tuba, and 48 strings) the rerecording lacks all the drive and crashing power of the original -- besides being plagued by orchestrations and tempos unfaithful to Barry's original. The best way to listen to this score is just to fast forward your way through the movie. Most of the film's best musical moments are sans dialog or sound effects (excepting the battle, of course). And to answer two questions that often come up about the score -- 1) No, the theme was not original with Barry. It was a Zulu wedding song that Cy Endfield picked up while in Africa, which Barry adapted -- and 2) Yes, Barry was the original choice to score ZULU DAWN, but declined; he seldom does sequels.
22nd September 2002	Peter Critchley There is a link to the soundtrack mentioned if you click on "The Film Zulu" in the linksd on the left hand side.. All the best, Peter
22nd September 2002	Dave Cheers everyone for the feed back regards Dave
22nd September 2002	Melvin Hunt Further to John,s reply. The main theme music played over the opening credits was an original Barry score. I have tried for years to obtain the sheet music. Does anyone know here I might get a copy?
22nd September 2002	John The main title theme from ZULU is one of the most instantly recognizable in the whole Barry cannon. It is a perennial crowd-pleaser at Barry's concerts and remains one of his personal favorites. But according to Barry the theme isn't really "his"; it's a traditional piece of Zulu wedding music that he adapted. Unfortunately, the original score with all its parts went missing sometime in the mid 70's and, despite an extensive search by Barry in the early 90's, remains lost with all his other pre-1974 works. Nic Raine reconstructed the score for the 1999 Silva Screen Records rerecording. You might try contacting them about the availability of sheet music. Or you might try contacting James Fitzpatrick, who produced the recording. His contact information can be found at the The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra website: (http://www.praguephilharmonic.org/ )
25th September 2002	Melvin Hunt John. Many thanks for the info about Barry,s score.
25th September 2002	Leigh tarrant I actually found the new Nic raine recording rather refreshing (Suprisingly!) and the sound was tremendously powerful on my surround sound kit at home!!! I bought the original "Zulu" soundtrack LP back in the early seventies...Alas It was mono with a psydeou stereo sound...Still sounded great, trouble is it didn't have all the music that the new Nic raine recordings have. I would actually recommend the NEW Zulu album though....It's not far off from what john barry had recording all those years earlier. Can't now wait for the new DVD coming out next month!! That'll be digitally enhanced for sure.