Laura Karpman, five time Emmy-winner and first time Oscar-nominee for her score to Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut American Fiction, joins Novena for an invigorating chat and guest DJ set. Topics of conversation include: her storied career as a composer for film and television, her work with the Alliance for Women Film Composers, and her magical Beverly Hills childhood. Did you know there were once pony rides where the Beverly Center stands today??
More: Cord Jefferson’s ‘American Fiction’ examines a wild fumble for creative freedom
Plus, she’s breaking down her massively eventful 2023 — in addition to picking up that nomination for American Fiction, her soundscape for Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels hit theaters worldwide last year. But today, she’s hanging with us, and serving as our expert guide through a fabulous array of works by female composers across all manner of film and TV projects. This includes several selects from Karpman’s own deep bench, complete with a world premiere of an alternate take of “Monk Is” from American Fiction (featuring prominent vocals from the score’s flutist Elena Pinderhughes).
When asked if receiving her first Oscar nomination feels any different than having already won five Emmy awards, Karpman responds gracefully (but emphatically) that, “yeah, it does.” “ I love my Emmys,” she continues. “And they're dressed up in Barbie clothes … “But it's really special, the Oscar thing is. I don't know why really. I mean, it's just the stuff that dreams are made of. Whether you admit it or not, we all grew up watching the Oscars, right? Even if you snuck around, or pretended like you didn't care, it was always something. So I think to be at this level and to have achieved this… And there are a lot of reasons why it's extraordinary in terms of the diversity conversation. It's pretty groovy and pretty crazy.” [Editor’s note: Karpman is only the sixth woman in the 90 year history of the Academy Awards to receive the Best Original Score nomination].
Partake in Karpman’s infinite wisdom and enthusiasm via the player button to your left. Read on for the full tracklist and a little background on why Karpman selected each piece for her KCRW guest DJ set.
Tracklist
1. Laura Karpman – “Monk Is”
[From Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction]
“This is a world premiere of the vocal version of the themes from American Fiction.” Elena Pinderhughes plays the flute throughout the score but I love her voice because it sounds like a total extension of her playing.
2. Nora Kroll-Rosenbaum & Taura Stinson – “Places I Never Knew”
[From Catherine Hardwicke’s Don’t Look Deeper]
“Nora is my wife and here she collaborates with one of my very dear friends, Taura Stinson, who is an Oscar-Nominated song writer. I think they create some really unique and off the wall vocal and synthetic textures.”
3. Emahoy Tsegue-Maryam Guebrou – “Presentiment”
[Featured prominently in the 2020 Garrett Bradley documentary Time]
“This was from the documentary Time [and filmmaker] Garrett Bradley used it in really creative ways. Emahoy died in March of 2023 at age 99 and her compositions and performances sound like an absolutely unique combination of Claude Debussy and Art Tatum.
4. Laura Karpman – “Dar-Benn Suite”
[From Nia DaCosta’s The Marvels]
“What I love about this piece is that it once again uses the talents of Elena Pinderhughes, but this time for a slithery villain in the MCU. It is definitely jazz, scary, and massive.”
5. Music by Laura Karpman, lyrics by Sonia Sanchez, soprano vocals performed by Janai Brugger – “Tulsa, 1921: Catch The Fire”
[From Misha Green’s Lovecraft Country]
“This piece sets the poetry of the great Sonia Sanchez, it was created for the TV show Lovecraft Country, [and] sung by the brilliant soprano Janai Bruger. [It] was created as a requiem for the victims of the [1921 “Black Wall Street”] Tulsa massacre.”