Is it just me or are there a few movies out right now with Latino flavors in them? “Vivo” on Netflix, “Encanto” from Disney, and how can we forget “Coco” from Disney. Oh! “In The Heights” on HBO Max. These are just a few current, mainstream movies with Latin music scores. I love scores, and I’m always on the lookout to see what’s out there. I mean music in general, is my thing.
There is a music composer from New Jersey by the name of Anthony Rodriguez. He released “Deliver Us” back in 2020, and “The Plagues” in 2022, both soundtracks from the Movie “Prince of Egypt,” in Latin style. He is a Telly Award winner and a nominee in The Independent Music Awards. His music catalogue is pretty extensive.
What caught my attention was his rescore of “The Plagues,” (he added Latin Symphony to the title). There’s a close similarity between the original and Anthony Rodriguez’s rescore, but it definitely provides a different concept that brings uniqueness into the fold. The musicality in the majority of the instrumentation is the same, except for the montunos, bass, and percussion rhythms. The vocals you can tell are very aggressive and have an emotive feel, which is obvious to me while listening.
I am a huge Latin music fan, and this by far is something different. As I followed Anthony’s Instagram posts and watched BTS content, I also learned that he worked with Award-winning mixer Jake Jackson from Air Studios in London, UK. Talk about keeping some relevancy to his rescore! Jake Jackson was part of the process of the original “The Plagues” from the movie “Prince Of Egypt” many years ago. You’ll find this and much more verifiable info about it on IMDb. He followed that up by mastering with another award-winning mastering engineer, Luke Pimentel (Los Angeles) that has also worked on mainstream movies.
Afro-Cuban rhythms vary and they just keep you going. It’s an amazing record to say the least. If you didn’t know the story of Moses and the Pharaoh, I suggest you go read up on it and then listen to this track. I’ve been inspired to watch this film again. Altogether, it was a masterful job by Anthony Rodriguez and his production team that collaborated in this project.
You can now stream The Plagues (Latin Symphony) everywhere!
