Various Artists - Babel - Music From And Inspired By The Motion Picture (2006)

2CD -- Music composed by Gustavo Santaolla with tracks from Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Sylvian, Fatboy Slim
As its title suggests, Mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu's film revolves around the transcultural difficulties of human communication. But the linguistic dysfunction that drives the film's characters towards causal connection and inevitable tragedy has paradoxically inspired just the opposite on this adventurous musical mélange of a soundtrack. The meditative, often hypnotic fretboard inventions of Iñárritu's previous soundtrack collaborator, Argentine composer Gustavo Santaolalla (a 2005 Oscar winner for Brokeback Mountain), serve as the restless soul of interlocking plots in the film, the final chapter of a fatalistic trilogy that also includes the Santaolalla-scored Amores Perros and 21 Grams.
But on this expanded, double-disc collection, the South American composer's culture-bending film cues (including mastery of indigenous Arab stringed instruments and incorporating field recordings of Moroccan tribal music) also serve as artistic axes, reflective anchor points for a pop collection that's as ambitious and far-ranging as the film itself. While the "music from and inspired by" tag often indicates cynical record company marketing schemes, here it's an invitation to transcultural musical adventure that links Santaolalla's North African musical conjuring with the contemporary styles of Japan (the atmospherics of Ryuichi Sakamoto and Susumu Yolota, Shinichi Osawa's sly Earth, Wind & Fire/Fatboy Slim mashup, the teen pop of Takashi Fujii's "Oh My Juliet") and Tijuana (a generous sampling of effusive Norteño that includes Los Incomparables, Daniel Luna, and Agua Caliente). --Jerry McCulley

Tracklist:
1.01 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Tazarine (Album Version) (1:46)
1.02 - Chavela Vargas - Tu Me Acostumbraste (Album Version) (2:42)
1.03 - Earth, Wind & Fire - September/The Joker (6:30)
1.04 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Deportation/Iguazu (Album Version) (4:49)
1.05 - Sketch Show - World Citizen - i won't be disappointed/looped piano (Album Version) (5:48)
1.06 - Blanquito Man - Cumbia Sobre El Rio (4:43)
1.07 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Hiding It (Album Version) (2:08)
1.08 - Rip Slyme - Masterpiece (Album Version) (4:20)
1.09 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Desert Bus Ride (Album Version) (1:55)
1.10 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Bibo no Aozora/Endless Flight and Babel (Album Version) (11:25)
1.11 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Tribal (Album Version) (2:30)
1.12 - El Chapo - Para Que Regreses (3:17)
1.13 - Nortec Collective - Babel (3:20)
1.14 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Amelia Desert Morning (Album Version) (1:23)
1.15 - Los Tucanes De Tijuana - Jugo A La Vida (Album Version) (3:50)
1.16 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Breathing Soul (Album Version) (1:20)
1.17 - Gustavo Santaolalla - The Blinding Sun (Album Version) (1:57)
2.18 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - only love can conquer hate (Album Version) (9:43)
2.19 - Los Incomparables - El Pachangon (Album Version) (4:06)
2.20 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Two Worlds, One Heart (Album Version) (2:11)
2.21 - Gustavo Santaolalla - The Phone Call (Album Version) (0:25)
2.22 - Susumu Yakota - Gekkoh (Album Version) (4:52)
2.23 - Gustavo Santaolalla - The Catch (Album Version) (0:54)
2.24 - Los Incomparables - Mujer Hermosa (Album Version) (3:37)
2.25 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Into The Wild (Album Version) (2:56)
2.26 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Look Inside (Album Version) (0:47)
2.27 - Gustavo Santaolalla - The Master (Album Version) (6:13)
2.28 - Takashi Fujii - Oh My Juliet! (4:35)
2.29 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Prayer (Album Version) (0:55)
2.30 - Daniel Luna - El Besito Cachichurris (3:38)
2.31 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Walking In Tokyo (Album Version) (1:32)
2.32 - Hamza El Din - The Visitors (Album Version) (4:58)
2.33 - Gustavo Santaolalla - Morning Pray (Album Version) (2:06)
2.34 - Banda Agua Caliente - Mi Adoración (Album Version) (3:33)
2.35 - Gustavo Santaolalla - The Skin Of The Earth (Album Version) (2:51)
2.36 - Ryuichi Sakamoto - Bibo no Aozora/04 (Album Version) (7:14)
2.37 - Los Incomparables - El Tamarindo (Album Version) (2:47)