With season three of HBO's hit series Westworld out this week, I thought I would dedicate a post to highlight the composer for the show. The music on this show is just one of the reasons why it's so great. By making his mark on Game of Thrones and Westworld, Ramin Djawadi cemented himself as an elite television composer over the course of the last few years. Both HBO shows have very different styles of music and are very brilliant in their own right. Djawadi has also done some high profile movies such as Pacific Rim and Iron Man, as well as few popular shows like Prison Break and Person of Interest. It's my opinion that his best work has been on the two aforementioned HBO shows and that's what I'm going to highlight.









Game of Thrones





I'm going to avoid talking about the show in general as to not alienate those who haven't watched. I really also believe that the music can stand on its own, as you can listen to the tracks without any connection to the show and still have an appreciation for how well written they are. Also, it makes me very, very, sad to talk about the show. I am in the category of people who were disappointed with how the ending was handled. Anyway, I digress.





The music of Game of Thrones is about themes. Each family in the show is given a theme and the music is played in episodes centred around those characters. SPOILER ALERT, there are dragons on the show, and they end up getting a theme of their own as well. Which also happens to be one of my favourite pieces.





The impressive thing is that there are so many families and so many themes, and Djawadi manages to make them all unique and epic in their own right. I am a sucker for big sweeping strings and there are lots of those. Djawadi also had the task of writing the intro for a show he knew very little about, and taking a theme that existed in the books (Rains of Castermere) and turn it into a real piece of music. He pulled both of them off brilliantly. I think the most impressive piece might be "Light of the Seven." A ten minute opus accompanying what would be one of the craziest season finales in the series.





There are so many good examples I want to share with you but I won't inundate you with too many. So here are a few of my favourites, and I would encourage you to go and listen to the more if you like them!

















Westworld





Djawadi at one point was doing two very high profile shows at the same time. I'm not sure how much creative control he has, but I think he had to do something different than Game of Thrones. With Westworld, he did something very unique and specific to the show. A majority of the songs and themes throughout the show are classic rock songs broken down and played as a piano instrumentals. Each season has a sort of main song or two played throughout and others peppered here and there as the season goes on.





What I find interesting about this is how Djawadi takes a popular song that you already have preconceived feelings about, and makes them dark and haunting and sad. In general, I view the show as a tragedy, and the music reflects that in a big way.





Season 1 featured "Paint it Black" (Rolling Stones) and "House of the Rising Sun" (The Animals) prominently, which are both killer tracks originally and parallel very well the themes of the show. It was hard to pick a favourite, but I have to say I was pleasantly surprised when "Exit Music" (Radiohead) was played.









Season two continued with a few of the themes and songs from season one, but added classics like "Heart Shaped Box" (Nirvana) and a "Seven Nation Army" (White Stripes) cover that featured the Sitar and had a very traditional Hindustani flare to it, which was very different and super cool. My favourite was actually the version of "Runaway" (Kanye West).

















The Season the trailer features "Sweet Child of Mine" (Guns N' Roses). The possibilities for what could be included in this season are endless. I'm hoping for some Rage Against the Machine, U2, and (more) Radiohead.













Well, if you have never watched these shows I hope you can at least appreciate the talent that this composer has. I personally can't wait to see what kinds of projects he takes on in the future (hopefully Star Wars).





If you are already a fan, did I mention your favourite Westworld or GOT track? Did I leave it out? Let me know in the comments! And if you're a fan of listening to scores and soundtracks check out my Apple Music playlist Film & Fantasy

#Westworld #HBO #GameOfThrones #music #musicblog #RaminDjawadi