25 Nov Sync of the week: Fargo
Music supervisor: Marguerite Phillips
The American FX show Fargo has had a great season two so far, skilfully keeping the spirit and place of both season one and the Coen Brothers’ original movie.
The opening of the third episode is a fine example of the show’s brilliance. It establishes the movements of the main characters while suggesting, with shots of men with rifles, that there is trouble ahead. The song, a favourite of mine, as it happens from the Yamasuki Singers from 1971, is a whimsical song with a children’s choir that suggests adventure yet on the song it’s paired with a big tom drum that conjures tribal war, perfect for the opening of this show which finds regular smalltown families mixed up with gangs fighting over turf.
The song ‘Yama Yama’ is from the 1971 French pychedelic pop project Yamsuki Singers which features the aforementioned children’s Japanese choir and a renowned black-belt Judo master bellowing over the top. One of the creator is Daniel Vangarde, who is, the father of Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk.