The latest clip fromThe Rise of Skywalkerputs the focus on Lin-Manuel Miranda and J.J. Abrams' Pasaana song. Miranda revealed he was a part of the cast and that he helped out with some music right before the movie hit theaters. This isn’t the first time that Abrams and Miranda have collaborated onStar Warsmusic. They got together for Maz Kanata’s cantina music forThe Force Awakensin 2015, which was a tribute to the iconic cantina music fromA New Hope.
Speaking ofA New Hope, the new clip fromThe Rise of Skywalkerfinds our heroes stumbling upon the Festival of the Ancestors on the desert planet Pasaana. As C-3PO points out, the festival takes place every 42 years. The last festival brings us back to 1977, which is whenA New Hopeoriginally hit theaters. The music heard in the background during this scene is called “Lido Hey” and it was written and performed byLin-Manuel Mirandaand J.J. Abrams under Shag Kava, a musical moniker for the duo.
As for the music of “Lido Hey,” it’s pretty light and has some middle eastern flair to the melody as we see theAki Aki perform for the Festival of the Ancestors. When compared to the last time Lin-Manuel Miranda and J.J. Abrams collaborated in 2015, the new music doesn’t seem as memorable and truly feels like background music. For manyStar Warsfans, the early Pasaana scenes seem in tune with the Canto Bight scenes inThe Last Jedi, though there is certainly more action towards the end. Other viewers have taken notice to the fact that it’s one of the many scenes where C-3PO is treated like a second-class droid in the movie.
Lin-Manuel Miranda is also featured as a Resistance fighterat the end of the movie celebration scene. Miranda is best known as the composer-lyricist of Hamilton, as well as In The Heights and Bring It On: The Musical. He also starred inMary Poppins Returns, wrote music for theMoanasoundtrack, and had a guest role in the last season of Larry David’sCurb Your Enthusiasm. Miranda also guest-starred on three episodes of the newDuckTales, and recently starred in the HBO seriesHis Dark Materials. Miranda is a busy guy, who also happens to be a pretty massiveStar Warsfan.
“Lido Hey” and “Oma’s Place” are the only two outside pieces of music inThe Rise of Skywalker. The latter was written and performed by J.J. Abrams and Ricky Tinez. The song is featured when our heroes enter abar owned by Oma Tres(featuring composer John Williams in a cameo role) on the planet Kijimi. The rest of the music was all composed by Williams, who has said that it will be his last with the franchise. You can check out “Hey Lido” above, thanks to the Disney Music Vevo YouTube channel.
