Music Of Woody Allen Films – an irregular feature about the musical compositions that have helped to make Allen’s films sing.
Woody Allen had made a deal to make a film in Spain, but had yet to settle on what to do for the soundtrack. It wasn’t right to go back to Allen’s usual go-to American jazz. And it was by luck that he found a track that would anchor Vicky Cristina Barcelona – by a band most people had never heard of – Giulia y los Tellarini.
The circumstances of how Allen found the track seems to be the plot of a very unrealistic film – and yet it happened. A girlfriend of one of the band members had tracked down Allen’s hotel in Barcelona, and slipped a demo CD under his door. Allen, who normally never pick up fan mail, had a long drive to production that day and nothing to listen to. So for the first and last time ever, he listened to an unsolicited CD.
Allen told Collider
I get a million things in the mail everyday that I don’t look at, they are scripts, music, and things.I’m not supposed to look at them. I never do. But I was running out to shoot in Barcelona and I had a long car trip to the location and just as I walked out my door this recording had been slipped under my door. I took it with me, even though is shouldn’t, I usually throw them in a pile, and my assistant returns them. I took it with me as something to play in the car. I put it in the car, put it on, and it was the music of Barcelona, opening song. I thought ‘My God, I’m half way through the picture, but this is the music I want for the picture.’
The first track was Barcelona. Perhaps Allen saw nothing more than the Spanish vibes and the word Barcelona. But he decided it was perfect for his film. The band members were unaware their music had even reached Allen’s hands. When a member of Allen’s camp reached out, on MySpace of all things, they thought it was a joke.
Giulia y los Tellarini is a collaboration between Italian born singer Giulia Tellarini and Brazilian producer Alejandro Mazzoni, who was based in Barcelona. The song reflects Tellarini’s on-again/off-again relationship with the city, reflecting the up and downs of the characters in Allen’s film. The conflicting relationships, the love of the city – yet all hidden away in Spanish, a language Allen doesn’t speak.
Allen wasn’t kidding when he called it perfect. The songs is used throughout the film, from the very start of the trailer til the film’s end. It was used in the trailer and it leads off the soundtrack. breeze. Allen back it up by filling the soundtrack with lots of Spanish guitar music. Allen would use another Giulia y los Tellarini track in Vicky Cristina Barcelona, as well as one for the soundtrack of You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger.
Barcelona can be found on their debut album Eusebio. It became a hit for the band, and they made a film clip for the song and garnered international attention. They released a second album, L’arrabbiata, in 2012.
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