How Composer Germaine Franco Brought Her Own Take On “The Sound Of Magical Realism” To ‘Encanto’

deadline.com:

When Germaine Franco began composing the score for Encanto, the directors knew they didn’t want the sound of a traditional Disney film.

Franco began experimenting with Colombian instruments and rhythms to create the sound of Latin American magic.Encanto takes place in a magical town sheltered by mountains, created when Alma Madrigal (María Cecilia Botero) lost her husband and prayed for a miracle to save her three children.

The idea of magic being born out of emotion was important to make the film based in Latin American magic, rather than European.As opposed to the sounds associated with European fantasy, Latin American magical realism comes with the influences of Afro-Colombian and Indigenous cultures.

Franco used traditional Colombian instruments and cumbia, the national rythym of Colombia, to score this Latin American Disney film.Franco’s score for Encanto has been shortlisted for the Best Score category at the Oscars this year.DEADLINE: What did the directors have in mind for the score?GERMAINE FRANCO: Well, they wanted it to not be a Hollywood score.