Creativity Music

The Ironwood Staff was written with a variety of background music, most notably the Soundtrack to Lord of the Rings, by Howard Shore; but more importantly, there was the music of Johnny Clegg. Known in France as 'le Zoulou Blanc', he was famous in South Africa starting in the early 80s. My earliest memory of his music on the radio was African Sky Blue, with its memorable lines

the Warrior is now a Worker, and his war is underground
With cordite in the darkness, he milks the bleeding veins of gold
When the smoking rock-face murmurs, he always thinks of you
African Sky Blue...

But the track that had the greatest influence on the world of the Southlands was Nkosibomvu, the Red King.

Johnny Clegg had a stellar career in South Africa, and his music was hugely influential in racial conciliation. He was rewarded for it by being effectively banned from the UK (where he'd been born), as part of the cultural boycott enforced by the Actors' Union, Equity. Undeterred, he moved into France, where one of his concerts outsold one by Michael Jackson.

Since then, with the Retribution of Thengon, I've favoured one other item: Mike Oldfield's The Music of the Spheres. I can't find a link to the original  on YT, so this is a random guy's upload of the whole album.

This is Oldfield's first offering written specifically for orchestra, and it is glorious. I first heard the track 'Empyrean' from it on Classic FM on the way home from work in the late 00's, and adored it at first hearing. After listening to the whole thing, I scribbled down the history of the Sunlands in my Big Black Book at one sitting (something that had been percolating in my mind for some time). I regularly use it at the time of writing, when I take a writing day off.