Mexican who creates film soundtracks is recognized in the U.S.

Kevin Robles saw “The Lord of the Rings” for the first time when he was 8 years old. As well as becoming a fan of the saga, the film was his ‘first interaction with art’.

“When I saw the film, I thought ‘What is this?’ It touched my soul,” he shared.

Shortly after graduating from Berklee College of Music in Boston, he had the opportunity to chat with Howard Shore, the composer of “The Lord of the Rings” soundtrack.

“We had a call and I told him that I was going through a crisis of motivation. He told me ‘Whether you have a project or not, you have to write every day so that when you need to compose you will have both material and muscle.

“It changed my perspective. Like a typical graduate, I told him that I didn’t know what was coming next and he told me ‘I did The Lord of the Rings at the age of 52,’” he shared.

The PrepaTec Santa Catarina graduate later worked in Spain with the composer Lucas Vidal on the Netflix shows “Someone Has to Die” and “Elite” until the COVID pandemic began.

“I had to leave Madrid. I looked at film university pages (to look for work). I sent a lot of emails. 50 responded to me and I made demos for 4. One of them was ‘Toro de Oro,’” he said.

“There is nothing wrong with having doubts, but you have to act as if you didn’t have them.”

Kevin composed the 8-song soundtrack for “Toro de Oro,” directed by Pedro Pérez Núñez. This also became his first released album.

The project won both Best Film and Best Soundtrack categories at this year’s Indie Film Fest in Arizona, and Best Foreign Language Film at the Downtown Los Angeles Film Fest.

“I composed everything: basses, violins, and strings. I recorded the quartet in a Hollywood studio. The piano and synthesizers were added digitally.

“I was attracted by the fact that it’s a film made by Mexicans and immigrants to the United States. There are some scenes with only photography and music. I had to turn myself into a better composer,” he said.

Tec Graduate at the Cannes Film Festival

The musical composer was at the Cannes Festival with “Bad Hombrewood”, directed by Guillermo Casarin, which given the Best Documentary award at the American Pavilion this year.

“It was an incredible experience. I didn’t think I’d get to Cannes until I was 50. It was very inspiring to go there with a proud Latino project. The movie has done very well,” he said.

Kevin recommended that young people who want to dedicate themselves to music should take action in order to get the results they want.

“If you’re an artist, then you know what’s good. If you have no doubts, it’s because you have blind trust. There is nothing wrong with having doubts, but you have to act as if you didn’t have them,” he pointed out.

Music composer Kevin Robles is currently working on new film projects.

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