Hollie Buhagiar is a Gibraltarian-born composer for screen and session vocalist, based in London. She has won multiple awards for her work, which she has produced for Vice, Amazon, Channel 4 and the BBC amongst others. Something which pricked my ears during her talk, as a long term science fiction fan, was the work she has made for the long-running BBC series ‘Doctor Who’, a show that I have talked about previously on my blogs. Linked below is one of the songs that she worked on collaboratively with fellow composer Segun Akinola:
Although she didn’t talk about this particular project much during her talk, I found it interesting and wanted to listen and learn more. Buhagiar sings on two tracks from the soundtrack of Series 11 of the programme, ‘The Doctor’ and ‘Thirteen’. I must admit, I haven’t watched this series in particular as I am not particularly a huge fan of modern Doctor Who, so I had to have a fresh listen. The piece ‘Thirteen’, which I have linked above, is used as the Thirteenth Doctor’s main theme throughout the series, and features Buhagiar’s vocals. It’s a rather grand affair, rich with strings, loud drums and melodic vocals – this certainly fits the character of the Doctor, who has always been portrayed as a heroic character who has travelled through near infinite galaxies and timelines. Buhagiar’s singing towards the end certainly lifts the intensity of the piece as the strings, synthesisers and drums swell towards the climax, only to drop away at the very end. Although this piece is more of an example of Buhagiar’s session work, over composition, I am personally also interested by this as I am a multi-instrumentalist and would like to get involved with larger session projects as a way of monetising my craft. I found an interview with Buhagiar on local radio where she talks about how she got the job:
In the interview, she explains how she met the main composer of the Doctor Who soundtrack, Segun Akinola, during her Masters at the National Film and Theatre School. Since their studies, the two had remained in contact, so when Akinola landed the job with Doctor Who, he offered for Buhagiar to add some vocals onto two of the tracks from his new soundtrack. The lesson to be learnt from this is to keep good connections with those who you study with, as they may (and probably will) go on to become successful in their fields, at which point they may offer you opportunities you would never have had.
All in all I found this to be an interesting talk, and the outcome I found particularly useful from it was the advice on networking that Buhagiar not only gave in the talk, but also discusses in the interview I found.
References
- Akinola, S. and Buhagiar, H., 2019. The Thirteenth Doctor’s Theme. [Online] London, UK. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gNz_6HeaW4> [Accessed 25 May 2022].
- Buhagiar, H., 2018. Local Singer Involved in Music for New Series of Doctor Who.