Hakuna Matata. What a wonderful phrase. Who doesn’t love classic disney movies like The Lion King? For this blog post I decided to continue with the Disney theme and discuss the iconic song, Hakuna Matata. The music was written by Elton John and the lyrics by Tim Rich in 1994. It was nominated for Best Original Song in the 1995 Academy Awards and later ranked the 99th best song in movie history by the American Film Institution.
In the movie The Lion King, Simba goes through a life changing event when his father Mufasa is killed and he blames himself for his fathers death. If that doesn’t depress the mood I don’t know what will! After that Simba runs away and is found by a warthog and a market. “Timon and Pumbaa, teach the main character, a lion cub named Simba, that he should forget his troubled past and live in the present.” (wikipedia) The song Hakuna Matata definitely takes a hold of your emotions and brings fun and joy back into the movie.
The fast tempo and wide range of the song keeps it exciting and up beat to change the feel of the movie from its previously sad and depressing songs. in the lyrics it reads:
“Hakuna Matata!
What a wonderful phrase
Hakuna Matata!
Ain’t no passing craze”
“It means no worries
For the rest of your days
It’s our problem-free philosophy
Hakuna Matata!”
The dynamic of the song is loud and with a wide dynamic range. It starts off almost just talking and explaining the meaning of the word then they get louder and sing their hearts out! The whole song talks about living by this motto of “no worries.” Hakuna matata is a Swahili phrase that roughly translates to “no worries” so in the song its truly explaining the meaning of the phrase.
The song definitely brings the audience back from the heart breaking beginning and lifts everyones spirits. my favorite scene from this song is when they are waling across the fallen tree stump and lifting their heads high and looking forward. Its just a perfect way to represent the meaning of the son in an action. Not looking back just holding their heads high and moving forward.
I love this song and feel like it does a great job making the movie happy and give a good life lesson wile doing that. Bad things happen in life but sometimes you need to just stop worrying and move forward.
Disney’s newest movie Moana has some amazing heart warming songs that can even be tear jerkers for some. The story of Moana starts with a little girls love for the water and her island taking place on a Hawaiian island. It goes through her journey of trying to save her dying island and finding herself along the way. The song “How far Ill go” written by Lin-Manuel Miranda, is a great representation of her journey. The rhythm and lyrics together give me goosebumps.
This song begins by talking about her struggle with what she wants and what her responsibilities are. She talks about her love for her island and that she should be ok with just having that but something draws her to the ocean and wanting to explore. she experienced doubt in her self worth and doesn’t understand why she’s not happy being the future leader of her village.
“I’ve been staring at the edge of the water
Long as I can remember, never really knowing why
I wish I could be the perfect daughter
But I come back to the water, no matter how hard I try”
“I know everybody on this island seems so happy, on this island
Everything is by design
I know everybody on this island has a role, on this island
So maybe I can roll with mine”
The lyrics above greatly express her inner battle. She wants to make her family proud and be “the perfect daughter” as said in the song but something pulls her to the water. I love the rhythm of this song, it really helps you to feel the song.
In an article written on Indy Wire it reads,
“What Musker liked about Lin’s song was the deft construction, starting with the contemplative opening, then the driving verse with marked tempo. “But then the chorus is very lyrical and expansive with a big landscape,” he said. “So the way it was staged it alternated between these two impulses of steady drive, one way or another, pulling her toward the sea or rushing back to the island.” ”And once we hit that crescendo, then you get all that lyrical abandon,” he added. “And there’s a modulation at the end of the song where it escalates and she gets even more caught up. Dave Derrick did a great job of boarding it and that’s where she launches the boat.”
They discus the construction of the song and how once it hits the crescendo it releases a bunch of emotion. It also talks about the setting or landscape of the song that gives it its amazing story feel a swell. This song plays at the very begging and definitely sets the tone for the movie. The songs texture is partially monophonic where only one note is played at a time. I don’t know if this just makes the song so catchy and never leave your brain or it makes you feel every word of that song and feel what Moana’s feeling. And the tone of the song draws out your emotions and you can hear her inner struggle and her sadness at some points.
I truly love this song and it gives me chills every time I hear it. i love how you can feel what Moana’s feeling because we have all be there when we haven’t felt like we aren’t doing what we are meant to do.
ATM Music blog 