LA FONTAINE SACRÉE
(1964/2000)

Japanese poster for Mosura tai Gojira (Mothra vs. Godzilla) (1964)

In 1964, Akira Ifukube wrote the score for Toho's 4th Godzilla film, Mosura tai Gojira (Mothra vs. Godzilla). Ifukube wrote many memorable cues for this film, but perhaps the best known one is called La Fontaine sacrée (The Sacred Fountain).

In the film, this song of prayer is sung by Mothra's twin fairies, the Shobijin ("Small Beauties"). The scene in which the piece is sung happens next to a fountain on the fictitious island home of Mothra.

When Ifukube wrote the music for this scene, he also had to write lyrics. The lyrics were written in Malay to give the song a true southern Pacific character.

In 2000, Ifukube reworked his original version of La Fontaine sacrée and orchestrated it for soprano, viola, bassoon and harp. The premiere performance of this new version appears on AKIRA IFUKUBE: Anthology of Vox Principal Works (20CM-641~2) which is actually a reissue of of an earlier release (30CM-391~2).

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Copyright 2009 Erik Homenick. All rights reserved.