Scores and the City: SOUNDS OF 16 with CHUKO ESIRI
We caught up for a quick 20 minutes with longtime Friend of 16, Chuko Esiri — one half of the dynamic directing duo quietly reshaping how Nigerian cinema is made, watched, and felt. What began as a conversation about building a playlist of Chuko’s favorite film scores soon shifted into something else. As we spoke, it became clear that the real soundtrack was Chuko’s own life — the music, the silences, the cities and the memories shaping both the man and his movies.
Chuko in Room 301: Forest, © Daniel Uwaga
Tushar: Is music a big part of your life when you make films?
Chuko Esiri: I always joke that silence is my favorite song. Too often, films use music to tell you how to feel. It can become a crutch rather than something that deepens the tone of the film.
T: Any film score that’s stuck with you recently?
C: The Brutalist. Daniel Blumberg did the score. It really gave the film real scale.
T: Speaking of music — “Happy Survival” was everywhere after you and Arie made Eyimofe. I heard it everywhere and even Childish Gambino and Khruangbin did that remake of it. I think you guys started that trend!
C: Oh, 100%. “Happy Survival” came out after the Biafra War. In the East [of Nigeria], people said “happy survival” to each other after the war was over. They were just happy to be alive, you know. Our film deals with similar themes of renewal and starting over so the song really fit perfectly.
T: What’s the last song you listened to?
C: It’s in my phone, let me get it ……. It’s called Bluet, by a Turkish composer I love - Büşra Kayıkçı. She collaborated with AH! Kosmos, a name I find really emphatic and fresh. Like ….. AH!…Kosmos! Laughing. But yeah, it’s ambient, neo-classical… it keeps me calm when I’m driving in Lagos so I don’t yell at anyone.
T: But no music when you write?
C: None. Writing needs quiet. Music’s for reading, admin, or pottering around the house.
T: Now that I’m thinking about it, this conversation is less about finding your favourite film scores and more about tuning in to the score of your life. So my next question is, how do you score your films?
C: There are composers that I like but my brother and I are often not paying attention to composers alone when we’re looking to have our films scored. Thus far we’ve always worked with people that are not traditionally composers. They’re either in a band, or they make electronic music and we find that that’s always been a nice mix of things. Sometimes traditional composers can be a little… rigid.
T: And I feel like making films in Lagos demands this free flowing structure. It’s authentic and a snapshot of what’s actually happening on ground in this really raw and real way.
C: Yes, exactly. It reminds me of my favourite score story which comes from this director Louis Malle who made this amazing film called Elevator to the Gallows. His manager knew Miles Davis’ manager and they were in Paris at the time and he asked if Miles would mind doing some music for the film. Miles said yes and so they set up a screen for Miles Davis and played the film for him while he improvised on his trumpet as the sequence played. I mean it’s just legendary! I think this would be such a great way to score a film, you know have someone just play how they feel as the movie is playing.
© Daniel Uwaga
T: So what are you up to now?
C: My brother Arie and I are making our next film: Clarissa. It’s an adaptation of Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Wolfe but moved from 1920s England to 2020s Lagos.
T: And what’s the musical mood you’re chasing for the score?
C: It’s a film about longing and romance between two individuals. It’s mostly set in Lagos with flashbacks to their childhood together in Abraka (my hometown in Delta State). To reveal the longing, this idea of love lost and missed destinies - we turn to Seckou Keita and the kora. For the Abraka flashbacks to their childhood, we want it to feel like every fruit is in season and so something like Nina Simone’s version of You’ll Never Walk Alone fits well.
T: Does Lagos’ noise make it into your films?
C: Always. Sirens, conductors shouting, car horns… it’s chaotic but alive. Like the city itself is telling stories.
T: Last question. What’s the mood of Abraka and Lagos — what would each sound like?
C: Abraka is a deep cello. Grounded. Lagos is a big band — Duke Ellington energy. A conductor is there guiding the band, but everyone is doing their own thing and it turns out amazing!
