Tag: Raya Yarborough

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2024 SDCC – Bear McCreary Panel

Greetings all!

I continue my experience at 2024 SDCC with the Bear McCreary panel titled, “Musical World building!”

Before the panel came to the podium, heavy metal music filled the packed auditorium! 👂 Turns out, this music was from “The Singularity.” You can hear more of this composition by following this link: https://bearmccreary.com/thesingularity/

After the muscial intro, the panelists then came out individually and introduced themselves:

First  to the stage was Bear McCreary! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

We Outlander fans honor Bear who has brought us, over the seasons, the most wonderful renditions of the Sky Boat Song! And, of course, we fans are keenly aware of his numerous musical accomplishments beyond Outlander!

Next was Kyle Higgins who was unknown to me but, given the applause, was recognized by many audience members. He is best known for his work on the Batman franchise at DC Comics, namely writing the miniseries Batman: Gates of Gotham and for the Nightwing and Batman Beyond titles, the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchise at Boom! Studios, and Radiant Black at Image Comics.

Matias Bergara was next.  He lives in Uruguay and is a video game designer, comic book writer and artist. After winning numerous awards in South America,  he works almost exclusively for the international market, and illustrated a children‘s book by Neil Gaiman, “Odd and the Frost Giants.”

Last, but certainly not least, was Raya Yarbrough! Raya is Bear’s spouse who was beautiful and poised as always. Raya, is an eclectic poet, singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. Although she is most recognized as the singer of the theme for Outlander, her voice and original music have been featured in many TV series, including  Battlestar Galactica, Marvel’s Agents Of Shield, Da Vinci’s Demons, and Agent Carter.  Her album “Raya Yarbrough,” was released internationally on Telarc/Concord records. 

We were not allowed to video record this session, but I did make an audio recording. I hope you enjoy hearing the session in its entirety. Here it is!

The following are highlights from the discussion in case you missed them.

*Bear talked about working on The Singularity, a graphic musical novel that required collaboration between numerous heavy metal groups and artists of word and graphics including Kyle, Matias and Raya. His goal was to develop one cohesive vision and bring it to life by collaboration. This is the backbone of musical world-building. 

In other news, Bear is working on a broadway show titled “Particle Fever!” It is based on the Higgs boson, aka the God Particle, discovered at the CERN large particle accelerator in Switzerland. He claims molecular physic’s time has come! 🤓

Bear said his musical score for Battlestar Galactic is tattooed on his heart because he got his start there at age, 24! However, his favorite score is from Godzilla: King of Monsters!

He revealed that he decided to score an original piece for the ending credits of Godzilla. When the film was first reviewed by the bigwigs, they started to leave as the credits rolled, but Bear asked them to wait. After the credits were done, they exclaimed they hadn’t authorized money for a final piece but he explained he knew that, he just wanted to do it! Presumably, for free! 🤩

*Kyle was asked what he would tell his young self. His answer: “just finish things!” 🤗 He also said clarity is very important. And, conflict with its tension and release plays an essential role in his creative efforts.

*Matias made a comic book out of music. He advised the audience to do things honestly and directly.  😇

*Raya is a poet, song writer and singer and is now a mother of two! She told us her mother wrote “Night Terrors” for Star Trek: the Next Generation. something I did not know! As a busy mom, she has to find time during the day to compose. She says while writing lyrics, she may not know what she is trying to say until she gets to the last line! 😮

Her latest project is a collaboration with Bear based on 82 ancient wheels and cogs found in the sea near Athens. These remnants comprise the oldest known analogue computer, an orrery (model of the solar system), known as the Antikythera mechanism (image below). Raya sings the voice of the machine as they explore its psychology! 🤔

There is much more to hear in the recording so I will close with gratitude for the gifts that Raya and Bear have given to the Outlander community. Looking forward to the second half of season 7! 🤗

The deeply grateful,

Outlander Anatomist

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Photo and video credits: www.wikipedia.com, Outlander Anatomy, Bear McCreary