The Gods Must Be Crazy (soundtrack)

The original soundtrack erroneously credits all of the music for the 1980 film The Gods Must Be Crazy to Johnny Boshoff. Many of the musical contributions appearing in the film were composed by Jack Trombey (a pseudonym for Dutch composer Jan Stoeckart) and feature Fred Mann playing the pan pipes, but were never attributed on the record sleeve. Trombey's compositions were derived from De Wolfe Music's 1977 library music release "The Good Earth".[1]

The Gods Must Be Crazy
Soundtrack album by
Johnny Boshoff, Jack Trombey, Fred Mann
Released1985 (1985)
GenreSoundtrack, Library Music
Length25:19
LabelVarèse Sarabande

Track listing

The track listing and updated attributions are as follows:

  1. "Music of the Gods (1st Version)" by J. Trombey (originally titled "Jan's Box of Tricks")[2]
  2. "The Song of the Shepherd" by J. Trombey
  3. "The Escape of Sam Boga's Rebels" by J. Boshoff
  4. "Andrew Picks Up Kate at the Bus" by J. Boshoff
  5. "Music of the Gods (2nd Version)" by J. Trombey
  6. "Children of the Kalahari" Traditional
  7. "Give Me a Moment" by J. Boshoff [Appears in film at 1:01:28]
  8. "Do You Want to Dance That Rock 'n Roll" by J. Boshoff [Appears in film at 59:30]
  9. "Walk in the Bush (The Hostages)" Traditional
  10. "The Songs of the Shepherd (Finale)" by J. Trombey

Additional music

Additional music from the film that does not appear in the official soundtrack release include:

  • John Fiddy's "The Weeks Work A (Main)", from the album Industrial Themes & Underscores Vol.1.[3] features early in the film during scenes which serve to contrast the hustle and bustle of city life against the peaceful lives of the Kalahari Bushmen.
  • In one of the film's most memorable scenes, main character Xi innocently reaches for a rifle to get the attention of a man who is playing mbira and singing "Amai Vachauya (The Mother Will Come)".[4] The song was written by Jege A. Tapera [b. circa 1905, d. unknown] and "is a mourning song composed especially for his wife, Maggie [deceased 1949], whose loss must have affected him deeply." The lyrics translate to Mother will come; will come and see; will come and see this poor man, yuwi uye yuye iye iyuwe. Ethnomusicologist Andrew Tracey thoroughly documented Tapera's music in 1961, elaborating that when he knew Tapera, he "was a clothing factory worker in Bulawayo, Southern Rhodesia, but, first and foremost, he held himself to be a muridzi wembira, an mbira player."[5] The recording of "Amai Vachauya" used in The Gods Must Be Crazy was taken from Jamie Uys' 1965 film Dingaka, in which it was retitled "Down-And-Out Song," and attributed to Ken Gampu, Sophie Mgcina, Thandi, Jimmy Sabe, John Sithebe and The Company.[6]

References
  1. "The Good Earth". www.dewolfemusic.com. Retrieved 2023-07-01.
  2. "Jan's Box Of Tricks". www.dewolfemusic.com.
  3. John Fiddy - Industrial Themes & Underscores Vol.1, 1980, retrieved 2023-06-29
  4. "Amai vachauya - Tapera, Jege, Tracey, Andrew T N". South East Academic Libraries System. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
  5. Tracey, Andrew (1961). "Mbira Music of Jege A. Tapera". African Music. 2 (4): 44–63. doi:10.21504/amj.v2i4.705. ISSN 0065-4019. JSTOR 30249529.
  6. Down-And-Out Song, retrieved 2023-07-01
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