‘Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever’ Series to Deconstruct the Making of the Soundtrack

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever beautifully closed MCU Phase 4 on the big screen – the movie paid homage to the OG Black Panther, late actor Chadwick Boseman, and kept the hope alive with the introduction of a new savior of Wakanda while celebrating the addition of a new culture to the wider cinematic universe by introducing Namor, the king of Talokan. The feature is a beautiful amalgamation of cultures which is reflected in every aspect from casting and production design to music. To celebrate the soundtrack of the movie the studio will release a new series Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever.

The studio revealed a new featurette on its Twitter account to give fans a glimpse of what went into making the soundtrack. “Soundtracks like these just don’t happen anymore,” said director Ryan Coogler. Music took center stage in the promotion of the feature as well, the Comic-Con Hall H presentation started with a soulful performance by Senegalese singer, Baaba Maal, who was accompanied by a wider group of African musicians. Pop star Rihanna also recorded a song for the feature which was an ode to Boseman, and so did rapper Kendric Lamar for its trailer.

Composer Ludwig Goransson revealed, “We collected sounds from all over the world and now we’re bringing it all together. All the music that we made… it doesn’t feel like the past. It feels like the future.” The music was recorded in four cities Mexico, London, Lagos, and Los Angeles, commenting on the process score supervisor Monica Sonand said, “Four countries. Hundreds of musicians. Thousands of hours of recording,” was put together for the 2-hour 41-minute long feature.

As music consultant Seni Saraki, noted, “The sonic world of Wakanda is evolving.” Tenoch Huerta Mejia, who proudly played the anti-hero Namor aka KuKulKan, the feathered serpent god, an Aztec deity, said “These movies, this music, creates something new, something beautiful,” when it comes to representation of various cultures on-screen. Talokan, now adds the Mayan and Aztec culture to the MCU, representing a wider spectrum of superheroes to look up to. “Art is the truest form to share your identity,” Goransson notes. For Coogler though “Music is really a conversation back and forth. I find it really profound and spiritual like a lot of people in the world do.” And certainly, the soundtrack of Wakanda Forever enhances the representation in the movie.

Voices Rising: The Music of Wakanda Forever debuts on Disney+ on February 22. You can check out the featurette below:

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