Clint Eastwood’s son Kyle, a well-respected jazz musician in
his own right, has collaborated with Michael Stevens to produce a terrific
score for Invictus. However, ‘Dad’
lends a hand, and the opening song ‘9,000 Day’s was written by Eastwood Sr
along with Stevens and even has lyrics by Dina Eastwood (Clint’s wife) – talk
about keeping it in the family! The result is a highly impressive CD soundtrack
release. This is a magnificent score, and unlike Eastwood’s previous forays on Million Dollar Baby, Flags of Our Fathers, Changeling and Gran Torino - which were dramatic, dark and moody - this music,
like the film itself, is really uplifting. There are several songs in the film,
all performed by Overtone a South African acapella band that was discovered by
Dina Eastwood, who saw them in a show in Cape Town while her husband was
filming Invictus. The soundtrack is a
blend of traditional South African music mixed with an almost tribal chant/drum
beat sound and orchestral overtures. It’s powerful stuff, with vocalist
Yollandi Nortjie sounding very much (on ‘9,000 Days’) like Jamie Cullum’s song
for Gran Torino , with  similar jazzy, bluesy vibes. As in previous
films, Clint Eastwood delivers one of his simplistic piano-based themes but
this time (in ‘Invictus Theme’) it is accompanied by a wonderful trumpet
underscore which, for this writer, is so reminiscent of the legendary Chet
Baker, and is a joy to hear. Kyle Eastwood and composer Michael Stevens have,
once again, produced a great sounding score – this time one that perfectly blends
a beautiful haunting cinematic theme with that of South African traditional
music. Highly recommended – and one of my favourite Eastwood scores to date.