Step Inside Fiona Gillott's Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Step Inside Fiona Gillott's Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

30th April 2020
Abbey Road's Studio Manager Fiona Gillott takes us through her enlightening trip to India and how composer Thomas Newman’s score for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel would bring a welcomed return to the sights, colours and sounds of the great country.
 
It was The Ozone, a BBC kids’ music show, that opened my eyes and ears to film scoring at Abbey Road Studios. I was a pop obsessed young teenager, and knew little about scoring, until I saw the infamous LSO truck parked at Abbey Road and the musicians walking up the steps through the hallowed doors.

Catapult me a decade later and I found myself standing in Studio One listening to Howard Shore scoring the first in The Lord of the Rings Trilogy. EPIC. I was mesmerised and in awe.

Film scoring at Abbey Road started back in 1981 with Miklós Rózsa’s Eye of the Needle, soon followed by Return of the Jedi and Raiders of the Lost Ark, when we partnered with Anvil Films, who had previously been based at Denham Film Studios. Since then, Abbey Road has never looked back.
 
 
It’s not often that a score runs in parallel to an experience your life. I am not old and retired (yet!). However, for me there is one score which will always transport me and evoke deep emotions. Thomas Newman’s The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is a journey through the colours, sights and sounds of India. Mellow, gentle and exotic - pure bliss.

Ten years ago, I took a sabbatical to immerse myself in yoga in the motherland that is India. Travelling a road well-travelled, little did I know my return to Abbey Road would bring a return to India, but through the sounds of Thomas Newman’s score. It was a seekers journey; to meet my gurus, from the lower Himalayas to the southern beaches of Goa, the iconic temples of Agra and to a Hari Krishna school and orphanage where I would teach yoga. India is all about sounds, a country which never sleeps and an assault to the senses.

 
 
Speaking to Thomas recently he recalls back to recording the score:

"The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was my first opportunity in over fifteen years to resume work at Abbey Road Studios. I remember a deep reluctance in taking on the project as I was not particularly old, certainly not British and with little knowledge of Indian culture and heritage. I mentioned this casually to director John Madden who I had gotten to know a few years earlier when we began collaborating. He simply said… “I’m aware of that”. I took this as a vote of confidence in my ability to write music that was, at the very least, dramatically appropriate and, I hope, stylistically considerate. So with the help of local musicians and singers, and with the wide range of musical styles allowable in Bollywood genres (those east-meets-west cultural mash-ups) I was able to find some artistic footing. It was a joy at every turn!"
 
 
Thomas did anything but disappoint with his score. It’s hard to choose my favourite cues, however there are some which truly standout for me.

Tuk Tuks - also an iconic sight across India, and a brilliant representation of the hectic chaos of India, the bustling sounds of constant chatter, the car, trucks and the blaring sound of horns. The late Derek Watkins, a legendary brass player who played on numerous Bond scores, was hired to play the Flugelhorn for the score and it was a great Introduction to Thomas who was set to score Skyfall next in the diary! Listening to the cue I’m back to the magnificence and magic of the streets of India. Thomas truly brings the soul of India to life in the film and drives the narrative, so you feel completely immersed, connecting you with the creativity and Indian culture.

There is a wonderful balance within the score. Chimes at Midnight for me is tranquil, as I follow my journey to the majestic well-manicured gardens of Yogi Bhajan’s residence in the Punjab. Here we would practice with the local community as our teachers gave back, rising at 2am walk to walk to the local gurdwara for morning prayers, followed by a day of meditation, practice, Kirtan, gatka, mantras. In Chimes at Midnight, the harmonies, repetitive sounds and vibrations express dignity, the divine and grace for the feminine.

India is a complete assault to the senses. However in the midst of chaotic elements with truck headlights racing towards you, and horns bellowing, there is a sense of stillness; a bunch of strangers, starring out of a rickety old minibus window into the dark night. Night Bus truly encapsulates what will be forever in my memory - my 14 hours on a night bus, destined for a remote village in the Himalayan foothills, our stop off at a Sikh Gurdwara, with the Sikh warriors in their bana wishing us well and offering prayers for our fate was in the hands of the gods.

Throughout Thomas’s score, the melodic Indian vocals bring an authentic unique tone with their fascinating folky flow transcending me back to the banks of the Ganges in Rishikesh (a warm reminder of home as this is where The Beatles visited during their Indian retreat), being witness to a puja (a prayer ritual event, the warm repetitive vocals chanting, and the vibrancy of marigolds draped over a Hindi statue. The music gently takes you as you recall the sun sinking into the landscape.
 
 
This year marks my 19th at Abbey Road, and during that time I’ve been fortunate enough to have witnessed many phenomenal scores, with some incredible composers such as John Williams, Alexandre Desplat, James Newton Howard, Michael Giacchino, Steven Price, Daniel Pemberton, John Powell and Mark Mothersbaugh, new talent with the likes of Segun Akinola, Tom Howe, Peter Gregson, Anne Nitikin, while the rock’n’roll breed of composers such as Ludwig Göransson,Tyler Bates, Johnny Greenwood and Jed Kurzel seem very fitting at Abbey Road, and have all played a huge part in Abbey Road’s history of scoring and we continue with the legacy on a daily (at least when we reopen) basis!

Abbey Road for me is more than a music mecca; it’s about the people who come here to create. From the staff, to the musicians, to the orchestra, to the artists, to the producers, to the copyists, to the film executives to the composer. It’s an extended family, with a shared passion for music and more about the wonder of the human spirit. Abbey Road and India are a treasure cove and a collection of experiences, and both hold more adventures yet to come.
 
 

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