The Music of Avatar

Wanda Bryant certainly had an interesting task with helping produce the film score for Avatar. While the movie definitely does contain a tribal "vibe" in the music, that is not always present throughout the film score.

How could it be? After all, a soundtrack that sounds like it came from the opening scenes of The Lion King can't exactly be expected to instill dread in the hearts of the massive amounts of people who saw the film. So while some of the nicer moments of the film, such as Jake's first flight with the dragon-like creatures contains a chorus and tribal drums with a happier sound, other scenes such as the toppling of the great tree the Na'vi live in calls for old-fashioned, loud, scary brass instruments.

Of course the culture of the fictional blue race is still obviously apparent, with a shaman like set of leaders, and constant gatherings of what appears to be the entire tribe. The only music they really make throughout the movie is a kind of chant where they all join hands. However, this kind of group music is the only kind that would really make any sense with the large tribes, real or fictional. Whether or not they are real, the Na'vi certainly do have their own culture in Cameron's three hour epic.