Didier Recloux – Cape Coast Ghana (Original Soundtrack from The History of Africa) | Neoclassical music review

Additional information/sources for Didier Recloux – Cape Coast Ghana (Original Soundtrack from The History of Africa)

A composed for a BBC World TV series called The History of Africa, this particular piece was written to illustrate the Atlantic Slave Trade, it starts with a theme played low on harp and grows with a beautiful cello solo playing the main melody and ends on a powerful and dark re-iteration of the main theme.

Didier is a Belgian-born composer based in London, his passion for music was fostered from an early age, having come from a musical family where he was introduced to a wide range of music by his Polish grandmother.

His journey as a musician began at the age of six, when he enrolled at his local music academy to study guitar, drums, piano, singing, and composition. He also studied counterpoint, music for film and television with Berklee online, orchestration in New York with Steven Scott Smalley and learned about music production at IMW London. He’s currently still studying with pianist, music teacher and author Jonathan Walker.

Didier started his musical career playing in bands, writing and demoing songs with friends, mainly in a pop/rock style.

Progressive rock, heavy metal, pop, electronic and classical music or film composers like Maurice Jarre and Ennio Morricone have all played influential roles in shaping Didier’s musical sensibilities.

Belgium is also a mosaic of communities and he was therefore exposed to a huge amount of foreign music and styles.

Didier’s music put an emphasis on melodies, which he describes as something he would like to call “portable”, that one can carry away from a film, bringing back the feelings experienced while watching the movie. His aspiration is to touch and move people, the way that he has been moved by the music he loves.

Didier is currently recording his first solo album, set to be released later this year (2023). It will feature an original score for a story written by French author and film director Philippe Claudel (I’ve Loved You So Long, A Childhood).

His first television break came with the documentary The Lost Child (2014), written and presented by renowned broadcaster and director Zeinab Badawi (World News Today & HARDtalk), produced and broadcast by BBC World.

Didier’s most significant contribution to the world of music so far was his collaborations with Zeinab on “The History of Africa part I and II” (2017-2020) a ground-breaking series of 20 episodes. The series was broadcast on BBC World and has more than 13 million views on YouTube alone.

This was followed by the series “Take me to the Opera,” (2021-2023) for which he wrote the main theme and arranged well knowned classical pieces, the third season is currently in pre-production.

Zeinab describes collaborating with Didier: ‘He is a wonderful composer who worked meticulously to capture the spirit and authenticity of each programme”

Earlier in his career, he wrote his first original score for the documentary “Featherweight”, directed by Christophe Hermanns (Belgium 2005). He collaborated twice with award-winning director Lou Hamilton (UK) on ” Desire of the Pitbull Warrior” (2010) and “Angie”(2012), and later with Keith Mackin and John Reck on “Cops and Robbers” (2013).