To the rhythm of the soundtracks
Musician and TV presenter Rodrigo Rodrigues spoke to 247 about his book 'Almanac of Pop Music in Cinema'.
Aline Oliveira _247Want to know just how crucial a film's soundtrack is? Just do a simple test: imagine, for example, 'Saturday Night Fever' without the Bee Gees' songs. Impossible, right? "John Travolta even walked to the rhythm of the music," recalls TV presenter and musician Rodrigo Rodrigues, who has just released "Almanac of Pop Music in Cinema".
The book gathers interesting facts about the soundtracks of various films and is a compilation of the work he has been doing since 2008 with the band The Soundtrackers, whose repertoire is 100% inspired by film soundtracks. In their shows, Rodrigo and all the band members dress up as characters from major productions like 'Forrest Gump', 'Kill Bill', 'Ghostbusters', etc. "Our entire repertoire is in the book, but there are songs that we don't play in our shows, but that I thought were important to include, such as the songs from 'Titanic' and 'The Bodyguard'." See the full interview.
247- Did you create The Soundtrackers just because you wanted to play soundtracks?
Rodrigo Rodrigues - I've been playing since I was 13 years old. I formed several bands and had this idea of composing, entering festivals. I even formed themed bands, classic rock, pop rock, etc. But in the 1990s, I received a CD of film soundtrack compilations from a friend. At that moment, I realized I could do a show just with that.
247- But the band only started in 2008, right?
Rodrigo Rodrigues - Yes. I moved to São Paulo in 2001 and stayed until 2008, prioritizing work in television. But the desire to play music returned, so from 2005 to 2008 I spent time looking for the right people for the band and informally compiling a list of movie soundtracks.
247- What did you take into consideration when making this list?
Rodrigo Rodrigues - I wanted to play movie music from the 1980s, and to this day those songs make up the band's largest repertoire. When we started, there were thirty songs; today there are a hundred. Currently, we've expanded a bit more, playing movie music from before and after the 80s.
247- What did you take into consideration when choosing the repertoire?
Rodrigo Rodrigues - I chose songs that were successful within films that were also successful and had good box office numbers.
247- When did you delve deeper into the research for the book?
Rodrigo Rodrigues - In the middle of the band project, I noticed I was discovering so many interesting things about movie soundtracks that it would be worthwhile to publish an almanac. I deepened my research and created a format for the book. Each page has the DVD cover, a synopsis of the film to orient the reader, trivia about the soundtrack, and the tracklist.
247- Why is there a whole chapter just for Elvis?
Rodrigo Rodrigues - I thought it best to 'block' the information. Elvis alone made 31 films; if I were to include them all, it would take up half the book. I selected about 8 or 10 of his films and put them all in the same chapter. I did the same thing with '007'. In other words, I only included the soundtracks that were successful on the charts.
Remember John Travolta in 'Saturday Night Fever'
Editorial Board
Title: Almanac of pop music in cinema
Author: Rodrigo Rodrigues
Size: 20,5 x 22,5 cm
Pages: 216
Price: R$ 59,90