NewEnglandFilm.com

Former Somerville resident Kareem Roustom has always had a love of music and of film. Little did he know that one day his two passions would merge to form a career path.

Born in Syria to American and Syrian parents, Kareem grew up in Damascus and moved to the U.S. in the early ‘80’s. He first picked up a guitar at the age of 15 and hasn’t put it down since. "There was a time when I’d spend at least 40 hours a week practicing. It was all that mattered to me," he said. It was a passion that led him to study music at the Berklee College of Music, Northeastern University, and the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, where he received a B.A. in music business and performance.

Kareem began an internship at BMG Distribution where he worked in marketing sales for record labels. "There I was, just a young college guy learning about the record business and meeting label people. Although it was exciting and a great experience, a voice in my head kept telling me that I wasn’t a corporate kinda guy. That I just needed to focus on my music."

Instead of pursuing the corprate world at BMG, Kareem decided to listen to his instincts and set out to make a living as a musician — a decision that didn’t exactly meet with instant gratification. "I had a very lean winter that year. I worked part-time at a video rental store and played guitar in a top 40 band. We played suburban meat market-type bars and Chinese restaurants." It was at that point he considered writing music for film.

Kareem thought about going back to school to gain formal training, but decided instead to learn on his own. He read a book on the technical aspects of film composing and spent a lot of time watching films and paying attention to how music was used. "As I watched all these films, I fell deeply in love with the orchestra. The instruments the sounds and colors are all fascinating to me. Most of all, it’s the combination of all these musical elements with a piece of film that really gets me. That is why I do what I do."

He has long admired the music of Bernard Herman who composed for several major Hitchcock films, as well as John Corigliano, a well known concert composer who created the monumental score to Altered States. He’s also a big fan of John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith. According to Kareem, "The great film composers understand that the role of music in film is to say what words cannot. Music can create a level of emotion that sometimes isn’t conveyed in the acting. It can elicit sadness or build tension. Overall, music can’t save a bad film — but it can make a good film that much more powerful."

To gain hands-on experience, Kareem entered the low-budget, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants world of student filmmaking. "I was paging through the back of the Boston Phoenix when I came across an ad seeking actors for a Boston University student film," he said. "I thought to myself, ‘If they’re shooting a film, they’ll probably need some music.’"

Kareem called up the filmmaker and got his first gig as a film composer. Although he didn’t have any technical experience, he knew how to tap into a picture, to feel its inner chemistry. "It’s really important for me to sit down with the director and get a look at the film in the editing stage; to get a sense of the tempo of the film," Kareem explained. "Once the film is completed, it is transferred to video with time code on it. That way, I know where to start and stop a musical cue. Then I use a computer program to make the tempo fit the action."

In the years that followed, he would work on four more Boston University students films. Many of these films have won awards at festivals around the country.

With a reel built from his work on student films, Kareem began to land paying jobs in the "real world." Kurzweil Music Systems hired him on a project basis to compose music for their orchestral sounds. Jazz singer Titi Ngwenya also called on him to produce arrange an album that was recorded at WGBH and the New Bedford Symphony Orchestra hired him to arrange and orchestrate music for a recent concert.

One day a friend informed Kareem about the Pete Carpenter fellowship competition, an international composition competition for film composers under the age of 35. Hundreds of tapes are submitted every year by aspiring composers from around the world, but only three are chosen. In 1996, Kareem was notified that he was one of those three. "The fellowship was a great honor and a rare opportunity. I got to work under the tutelage of Mike Post, one of the most successful composers in the history of television," Kareem explains. Post has composed for a long list of award-winning and well-known television series, from Hill Street Blues and the Rockford Files years ago, to current series such as NYPD Blue, Law and Order, and Brooklyn South.

"The fellowship gave me the perfect excuse and enough money to make the jump from Boston to Hollywood," according to Kareem. He used the stipend awarded to him to move from his Somerville apartment to Los Angeles last October. Since then, he has spent his time in the studio writing music for NYPD Blue and Law & Order. Although his music is not used in the actual broadcasts, Kareem gets firsthand feedback from Mike Post on what he has written. And as if he hasn’t been busy enough, Kareem also managed to squeeze in another project that took him briefly back to Boston last month. "Blackside Productions was looking for a composer to work on a documentary which focused on three countries in Africa. After reviewing my demo tape, they gave me the job."

Kareem flew back to Boston and managed to write 40 minutes of music over a rigorous 13-day schedule. Entitled Hopes on the Horizon, the documentary will be shown in Africa and is the pilot for a series designed to educate Africans about Africa’s political history and struggles for independence. He is now back in Los Angeles, finishing up his work in the fellowship program. As for the working-in-Boston vs. L.A. question, Kareem explains, "The industry here in L.A. is just so much bigger than in Boston. At the same time, the environment is impersonal, somewhat inhumane. There is so much talent out here — 10,000 composers waiting in line for film work and willing to do it for nothing." He also found it amusing that he had to move to Los Angeles to get the documentary project in Boston.

As he looks ahead, Kareem would be perfectly happy working on a few films a year. "My goal is to create a body of work I can be proud of at the end of my life. Ideally, I’d love to work on independent films with good story lines, but I also realize I can’t always pick and choose. I do my best no matter what the project. Since Boston is my adopted home town, I would like to continue working with local directors. It’s a short flight."

He also believes that there is a lot of opportunity in Boston for aspiring composers, they just have to know where to look. And as for those up-and-coming student directors which populate the Boston area, he urges them to consider the power of an original score in their films. "I really think it’s important for young directors to educate themselves about the innovative ways music can be used to punctuate and enhance a film." Kareem explains. "Don’t be afraid to experiment. It’s also important to remember you don’t need a lot of money to bring something special through music."