Rio 2 (Music From the Motion Picture)

In scoring this second installment of Fox’s Rio animated franchise, English composer John Powell pondered this question: “When did we get melody? Our lives are filled with tunes, but when did it start? I realized it must have been the birds; hundreds of millions of years ago, birds gave the world song. We can only wonder at the force of nature that was able to attract a mate using a beautiful song.” Powell then bolstered his whimsical inspiration with a vibrant cocktail of Brazilian rhythms and musicians, including guitarist/singer/songwriter Milton Nascimento, eclectic vocalist Carlinhos Brown, and The Barbatuques, notable for using their own bodies as percussion instruments. The composer’s crowning touch was handing the baton to José Serebrier, the internationally renowned Uruguayan conductor. “José has conducted all the world’s orchestras,” Powell proudly notes. “But I was the first to persuade him to come over to the dark side and work in Hollywood. He of course took to it like the proverbial fish.”