The Legend That Is The Lion King OST

OK, so I have decided to pay tribute to the legend himself Hans Zimmer, in this review of his ONLY academy award winning score for the Lion King (1994).

Firstly, incase those of you reading this have either been living under a rock, or are simply too young (but how could you ever be really) here is a brief synopsis of the film itself:

One of the most popular Disney animated musicals, The Lion King presents the story of a lion cub's journey to adulthood and acceptance of his royal destiny. Simba (voiced first by Jonathan Taylor Thomas, then by Matthew Broderick) begins life as an honored prince, the son of the powerful King Mufasa (voiced by James Earl Jones).
The cub's happy childhood turns tragic when his evil uncle, Scar (voiced by Jeremy Irons), murders Mufasa and drives Simba away from the kingdom. In exile, the young lion befriends the comically bumbling pair of Pumbaa the warthog (voiced by Ernie Sabella) and Timon the meerkat (voiced by Nathan Lane), he and lives a carefree jungle life. As he approaches adulthood, however, he is visited by the spirit of his father, who instructs him to defeat the nefarious Scar and reclaim his rightful throne. Borrowing elements from Hamlet, classical mythology, and African folk tales,
(Judd Blaise, Rovi)

Onto the review itself.
In my opinion the score for Lion King is possibly one of the best pieces of film music created to date. Hans' collaboration with Sir Elton John as well as  Sir Timothy Rice within the film is absolutely extraordinary, as the film score not only lends itself to the child-orientated animation, but also carries the complexity and large soundscape of a full blown epic.
"For "The Lion King," the filmmakers brought
together a trio of musical talents to create one of  the most integral,sophisticated and delightful collaborations in the studio's history."

This can be heard through the contrasting pieces of music such as "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" with the dark and epic "Elephant Graveyard".  This contrast I believe, is what takes this already stunning narrative and pushes it to another level!



The film score also carries the cultural relevance within the film through Hans' instrumentation.
The prominent use of xylophones, marimbas, pan flute and African choir's within the film place the audience within the beautiful landscape which is the African Savanah.

To get the African feeling, Hans used everything from native African instruments to pieces of old drain pipe that he tossed together to make great spooky noises. He says, "I used the marimba, which is like a wooden xylophone. 
"I like it because it sounds like clonking bones. I use it in a lot of chase scenes. I also used a little thumb piano called the kalimba. It's made out of a piece of wood with metal spokes on it. You pluck the spokes with your fingers and they make a haunting racket." Hans Zimmer
(Alicia Miller, undated)

This combined with the use of epic instrumentation such as french horns, large string ensembles and grand percussion (taikos etc) left me as an audience member enthralled with the events playing out on screen.

"One of the remarkable aspects of this score is how the African and Western influences, the latter extending to somewhat sickly waltz movements for suspenseful moments (another connection to Zimmer's past), don't conflict with each other.

(Filmtracks, 1996)


In conclusion I feel that the multi-functionality of the film score (amplifying not only the action being seen on screen but also the child-like nature of the animation) allows the audience to immerse themselves fully in the glory that is The Lion King

Reference Links:
http://www.filmtracks.com/titles/lion_king.html
http://www.lionking.org/text/review6.txt