I was able to learn a new language - a new musical language is learning a new language, because it's so extremely different from Western classical music. African music is completely different.
— Ludwig Goransson
Growing up in Sweden, musical education is something really special. There are music schools everywhere, and the education is very advanced.
I love L.A. partly because it feels like there are so many parts of the world in this city.
As a kid growing up in Sweden loving American music, I always dreamt of migrating here and working with brilliant artists like Donald Glover.
I never used to get calls from artists or labels, but once you have a top 20 hit, you start getting them.
It was very challenging, trying to add an orchestra on top of these traditional African rhythms, because as soon as you add any kind of melody or chords over it, it stops feeling African.
I would say that 'Creed' has a lot more music in it. It's 60 minutes of music, while 'Fruitvale' had about a fourth of that at best. There's a bigger focus in 'Creed' because I had to make music for training montages.
I think, as a composer, pressure should be something that makes you better.
So when I'm listening to music, I'm listening to a lot of hip-hop to be inspired and to hear new things.
Chance The Rapper is a person who really knows what he wants.
I moved to L.A. in 2007 from Sweden.
It's not lost on me that I'm a Swedish guy from one of the coldest countries in the world.
I think the more you know people and the more you get to know artists, the better you can collaborate.
The first time I experimented with sound design was on 'Fruitvale Station,' where I recorded the BART train and manipulated it.
Words fail to express how surreal and humbling it feels to be invited into the 'Star Wars' universe.
For the last 10 years, I've been working with Donald Glover and Ryan Coogler, and we've put down so much time really trying to make the best that we can, whether it's a movie, a film score, or a song.
A friend of mine put me in contact with the artist Baaba Maal.
I need to study more. I need to educate myself more - and not just in music, in everything - but especially in music and composing.
Travelling is a key part of my life. It keeps me inspired, takes me to new places, introduces me to new sounds, and allows me to explore new environments and soundscapes.
I wanted to be the best guitar player in the world. And then my dad got me a portable recorder, so I started writing my own music.
I just want to say, creating music with Childish Gambino has been one of the greatest joys of my life.
Music in Africa is perceived so differently than Western classical music - it's language and storytelling.
One of the instruments that really stuck out to me was the talking drum, which is basically the first type of communication device. It's a drum you put on your shoulder, and you can pitch it with your arm, and you can 'talk' with it.
Something I grew up with is John Williams, of course, with 'Indiana Jones' and 'Star Wars.'
The plan was just to make great art, and working with Donald Glover, who is such a renaissance man, we've been working together for ten years, and he is always pushing the envelope in a way - like, whenever we work together, I have no idea what it is going to turn out to be.
I think with everything I do, I'm trying to just come up with new ways of creating music and mixing styles together. That's just what's fun for me to do, to try to make myself inspired.
I'd love to work with Frank Ocean. I really like his music.
I would love to do more superhero work; as a young film composer, that is one of the things you dream of.
I think in 'Rocky IV' there are three montages with three five-minute songs, which is insane. You can't do that today.
My starting point is always to read a script and have a conversation with the director about what their vision is, and then, after that, I love to do research.
I work pretty fluidly across all genres.
I was drawn to West Africa. I did listen to a bunch of different styles of African music, and there was something about the percussion and the drums of West Africa, and the energy, that felt so cinematic to me.
I'm just constantly figuring out new ways to reinvent myself.
I haven't really ever seen a big budget Hollywood film with African music. Most of the time, it's just Hollywood's perception of what African music is.
That's important for me, to never just relax and be too comfortable with what you have.
For the score of 'Black Panther,' the heart and soul came from immersing myself in the rich musical history of the griots in West Africa. I was following these brilliant musicians all over rural Senegal, learning their musical language.
It definitely feels like I'm living a dream, but I try not to pinch myself because I don't want to wake up.
I love learning new things.
These days, you're always surrounded by music and sounds, whether you're in the mall or a subway car.
I've produced all of Childish Gambino's music.
Some of my favorite scores include Bernard Herrmann's Hitchcock scores.
I've worked with Childish Gambino for so long, so I've learned that from those producing skills - how to really produce music - where, of course, it's about writing, but it's also about combining sounds and styles and genres.
I think to try to make new music and new ideas, you have to push the boundaries of existing music.
At USC, when I studied film scoring my first year, one of my first friends that I met was Ryan Coogler. He was in the directing program at USC. He became one of my best friends at school.
I traveled to a library in South Africa called ILAM (International Library of African Music), which has a collection of about 500 different instruments that don't really exist anymore.
So much music in Africa was created for specific moments, written for rituals or for a funeral or for challenges, thousands of years ago, and these rhythms are still used.
Obviously, the 'Rocky' theme is one of the most recognizable themes in film.
When I'm working with an artist, my job is to make their vision come to life.
Normally when you write for an orchestra, you think about melody and harmony and countermelody.
I'm always trying to experiment and come up with new palettes of sound and new combinations of music that you haven't really seen or heard in film before.
