The Color Purple

There is a wide variety of music featured in The Color Purple. The movie started off silently during the opening credits and then very lyrical music played while scenes of a meadow were shown. This lyrical music was mostly strings and woodwinds and sounded very airy. Most of the first part of the movie was underscored with this music and some playful/mischevious sounding tunes that played when Celie's step children were shown. Different places had thier own music. During farmhouse scenes the music displayed a Southern influence with some banjos and harmonicas. Church scenes featured southern gospel music while the jukebox club played jazzy, caberet-ish blues. Scenes of Africa were accompanied by tribal music. In one montage of scenes showing Celie about to shave Albert but contemplating killing him, and two children in Africa about to be cut with a knife, the tribal music spills over into both locations enabling it to build tension in both scenes.