‘Shirley’: How Composer Tamar-Kali’s Score Reflects a Love of Country, Determination and Ambition (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comJazz Tangcay Artisans Editor As a proud Brooklynite, composer Tamar-kali will often walk around her neighborhood and see a mural of America’s first Black congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.
Other times, she’ll take a walk around the Shirley Chisholm State Park and be reminded of an incredible legacy. Chisholm’s story is the subject of “Shirley,” a new film produced by and starring Regina King, directed by John Ridley and coming to Netflix on March 22.
It is one that Tamar-kali is proud to tell through music. Her score was a suite of themes generated around Chisholm’s relationships with underpinnings of determination, ambition and, most importantly, her love of country. “She was a disruptor,” Tamar-kali says.
The film follows Chisholm in the late ’60s into the early ‘70s when she goes on the campaign trail, seeking the presidential nomination. “I used a wider palette compared to my previous films ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ or ‘Joan Didion’s The Last Thing He Wanted.’ There’s french horn and I was able to use more percussion to hold the backdrop of the campaign trail,” she explains.
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