Music by TAMAR-KALI

Lakeshore Records is set to release The Fire Inside—Original Motion Picture Soundtrack digitally on December 25 featuring music by composer Tamar-kali (Mudbound). The score mixes emotive strings with modern electronics and vocalizations that vividly underscore the challenging themes of the film. The Fire Inside, directed by Rachel Morrison and written by Barry Jenkins stars Ryan Destiny and Brian Tyree Henry.  The Amazon MGM film is in theaters beginning today.  Rated PG-13 for some strong language, thematic elements, and brief suggestive material.

The Fire Inside is the inspirational true story of Claressa Shields, arguably the greatest female boxer of all time. A high school Junior from Flint, Michigan, aided by her tough-love coach, Jason Crutchfield, pushes past all limitations to become the first American woman to win an Olympic gold medal in boxing. But even at the pinnacle of success, Claressa has to reckon with the fact that not all dreams are created equal, and the real fight has only just begun.

Notes Tamar-kali: “In composing the score for The Fire Inside, I sought to strike a balance in its support of Claressa Shield’s transformative journey and the rhythmic and percussive nature of the ‘sweet science’ of boxing. 

An instrumental palette of strings, percussion, modern electronic sounds and brass provided the versatility for the score to flow through a myriad of experiences from the everyday grind to poignant and emotional moments to the epic stage of the Olympics. “

ABOUT TAMAR-KALI

Brooklyn born and bred artist Tamar-kali is a second-generation musician with roots in the coastal Sea Islands of South Carolina.

As a composer, Tamar-kali has defied boundaries to craft her own unique sound. As a performer she speaks her lyrical truth with a supreme passion and a voice that will shake your foundation and shatter your expectations with its soulful intensity.

2017 marked her debut as a film score composer with Dee Rees’ Oscar- nominated Mudbound. Her “expressive and varied score” [Variety] garnered her the World Soundtrack Academy’s 2018 Discovery of the Year award and has been classified by Indiewire as one of the “25 Best Film Scores of the 21st Century.”

The soundtrack for her score to Josephine Decker’s psychological drama Shirley was named The Guardian’s Contemporary Album Of The Month in June 2020.

2022 saw her debut work from multiple commissions; the LA Opera digital short, We Hold These Truths directed by Peabody-award winner Dream Hampton, plus a solo cello piece for acclaimed cellist Matt Haimovitz, as well as Tamar-kali’s return to the stage to perform Melancholy Ghosts and Other Mothers – a Beth Morrison Project commissioned song cycle.

Freedom is a Constant Struggle, a concert curated and co-produced by the artist and presented by Lincoln Center and featured the original work Sea Island Symphony: Red Rice, Cotton and Indigo; an orchestral love letter to her Gullah Geechee roots as part of 2023’s Summer for the City Outdoor Festival.  

Watch Night, a theatrical work conceived and directed by Bill T. Jones and composed by Tamar-kali with a libretto by Marc Bamuthi Joseph, made its world premiere November 8, 2023 as part of the long-awaited Perelman Performing Arts Center’s inaugural season.

Tamar-kali’s 2024 artistic landscape includes scores and soundtracks for John Ridley’s biopic Shirley Chisholm biopic starring Regina King and history making Oscar nominee Rachel Morrison’s feature directorial debut The Fire Inside, as well as a live excerpt of her latest opera work The Swann presented in concert form as part of Harlem Stage’s 40th Anniversary season. 

TRACKLIST

01. Opening

02. No Food

03. Fire Inside

04. Kicked Out

05. World Championships

06. You Made It

07. Marshall Eliminated

08. Build up to Olympic Final / Final Round

09. Olympic Champion

10. Ressa & Jason Fight

11. Get Back Up