Cinematic Sound Radio

On today’s show, Jason Drury interviews composer Vivek Maddala. Vivek is a two-time Emmy-winning composer for his music in the Cartoon Network series The Tom and Jerry Show. His most recent project is the thought-provoking PBS documentary series Asian Americans, which casts a new lens on U.S. history and the ongoing role that Asian Americans have played. Each of the five episodes contains wall-to-wall music, and Vivek created different themes which evolve alongside the storytelling throughout the series. Asian Americans premiered on PBS on May 11th 2020. For the score, he intentionally threaded recurring themes into the story to help the audience connect the dots and see the parallels between these oppressive situations that Asian Americans have endured throughout history in the U.S. One of the themes Vivek created is called “resigned acceptance,” which he explains is the decision of the oppressed to not rebel, but to unite and better their own situation as best as possible. Overall, the composer set out