Chicago Musician Duane Buford Composes Score for New Documentary Mandela In Chicago

Duane Buford brings his composing expertise and his extensive musical resume to the new documentary, Mandela in Chicago, available now.

Some musicians find a groove and settle into a life on the road. Others may find themselves hopping from band to band, searching for that perfect fit. And yet others bust the mold, taking their experiences to new levels and pushing the envelope to find out what they’re made of, to find what else is out there they can conquer.

Duane Buford grew up in Chicago, where he started his artistic journey as a pianist at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. He built upon his natural talent by adding a strong work ethic and a desire to keep learning more, to keep testing himself.

After a stint in New York, Duane returned to Chicago and found home with the band, Revolting Cocks, or RevCo to the hardcore fans. That led to a gig on keyboards for Ministry, the platinum-record, Grammy-nominated industrial band, from 1994 to 2001. Duane toured the world, played large venues to sold-out crowds, and even landed in a Steven Spielberg film.

It was in Spielberg’s film, AI: Artificial Intelligence, where Duane and the band Ministry were featured as the band playing at the flesh fair in the movie, and where he met composing legend John Williams. He asked questions, learned more about how Mr. Williams works, and gathered tips on how to better compose for multimedia. This would mark the beginning of a new path for Duane and open new doors to new challenges. And he walked through each one without looking back.

Through it all, Duane just kept learning.

Duane would go on to compose the scores for multiple documentaries and feature films, and flex his entrepreneurial spirit by creating his own companies in music and technology. He worked on commercial campaigns for ad agencies, landed contracts for Xbox and Day 1 Studios, and even composed music for the popular video game, MechAssault.

Duane is also a Founder and Board Member of Chicago Devotion, where he upped his own tech game to build this very website, write some of the articles within, and where he still works to maintain this online gathering place for the people, where they can come for hard-to-find resources and information as our team dedicates themselves to helping others every day.

Duane Buford’s latest music is featured in the new documentary, Mandela in Chicago, which traces Chicago’s roots in the anti-apartheid movement that woke people up to the tragedies occurring in South Africa. You can read more about the documentary in another of our featured articles right here.

Many Chicagoans made great efforts to organize, protest, and introduce and pass laws in the city of Chicago, the state of Illinois, and the United States Congress to end American financial aid and support of apartheid.

Our neighbors and family members cooked food, organized rallies, and created movements to raise money, which they sent to the African National Congress to fight apartheid over the course of multiple decades.

The ‘Free South Africa’ sign outside Trinity United Church of Christ became a worldwide rallying symbol, even reaching the political prisoners on Robben Island in South Africa, where Nelson Mandela himself was jailed.

When Nelson Mandela came to Chicago in 1993, Chicagoans welcomed him as their own. He returned to Africa “recharged with strength,” and with two million dollars raised from Chicagoans, which would help the African National Congress get him elected as President of South Africa.

Director Ava Thompson Greenwell, Ph.D. worked for years to bring this documentary to fruition, and Mr. Duane Buford composed the compelling score for the film as the Lead Composer Producer.

“I did the music for a film called Blueprint for Bronzeville that turned out really great,” Duane Buford said. “Dr. Ava Greenwell, the director of Mandela in Chicago, went to one of the several screenings and met Tristan Hanson.”

“I happened to see an ad for her documentary, Blueprint for Bronzeville, which was playing in Evanston, and I thought it looked pretty interesting,” Ava Thompson Greenwell, Ph.D said.

“I get to the screening, and I run into Chaga Walton, he was on the Board for the Black Harvest Film Festival,” Dr. Greenwell said. “We met the director there, and she talked about the music in the film.

“So, afterwards I went up to her and said, ‘I’m working on this documentary and I’d love to find a local musician who can help me,’ and she said, ‘Duane Buford is your man, he will help you and he will provide the music.’” Dr. Greenwell said.

“Working on Mandela in Chicago was really enlightening,” Duane Buford said. “I didn’t know that there was a Chicago connection. At all. Again, who has not heard of Nelson Mandela? But I didn’t know the connection with Chicago.

“When I came to Dr. Greenwell’s office, I had in my mind, ‘I am not leaving here without this film. I am not walking out this door without securing this film.’ Because, for me, I remember the day Mandela got out of prison. I was at home, I watched it on television. It was a big deal, he stopped everything. I saw him walking out of prison. So, I really wanted to do this film.”

“This is very much a Chicago story, because when it comes to the anti-apartheid movement, there have been a lot of conversations about the global movement, about movements in the U.S. on both coasts, but the Midwest doesn’t get a lot of love,” Dr. Greenwell said. “My goal was to do Chicagoans right by this film, and to make sure they were documented, that the work they did was documented. It was so powerful.”

“There were a few people whose names rang a bell, who were in the film and part of that particular struggle, but who I did not know personally,” Duane Buford said. “I recognized their names, like Carol Moseley Braun, she had a position in government.

“There was another lady in there, Iva Carruthers; I had met her husband years ago. I was involved with this project, Upward Bound, a program that trains teenagers for higher education. I was part of that program, and I believe her husband was a teacher and I trained with him.

“There was this big connection on the South Side of Chicago. Some of the areas that she spoke on were actually not far from where I lived at the time. Again, I did not know. She brought that to light for me,” Duane Buford said.

Duane’s commitment to his craft and his hard work ethic has led him to become a constant student, searching for more knowledge as he continues to hone his skills and grow as an artist. For someone at the top of his game, his desire and discipline to keep educating himself shows a lot of character.

“Knowing what it takes to do any project, whether it’s music or what we do with Chicago Devotion, you run into stumbling blocks and things don’t always go that way,” Duane Buford said. “When I’m doing a project, I don’t expect everything to go well all the time. There has to be some bad in it because if you really analyze when things go bad and you take it as a learning lesson, that’s how you make it into something good, because you recognize it.

“Some great songs are written because of bad times, bad situations, bad energy. You can take that and make it into something positive. Like she (Dr. Ava Greenwell) said, she had a lot of things that didn’t go right in putting this together, but she continued to make it work.

“She finished it, that shows you her dedication. I applaud her for that. As we were working some things didn’t go right. She didn’t have funds to cut it the way that she wanted. Working with the editors, doing revisions — revisions for me are just a part of the game, so it didn’t bend me out of shape and it didn’t bend my team out of shape.

“I felt like I did some innovative things I hadn’t had a chance to do as far as a film score is concerned.

“I was fortunate enough to get the right people to work with. It could be a challenge if you get the wrong person to work with. That’s happened to me before; I’ve trained myself to complete a project even if I have to do it myself. If I hire somebody and they flake or whatever, I’ll still be able to get it done.

“I had to train myself that way because I’ve been in a situation where it happened before. She (Dr. Greenwell) was able to go against other obstacles that she ran into to get this done, and it was years of work. It didn’t happen overnight,” Duane Buford said.

Another bonus to the diversity of Duane’s work is the ability to stretch himself as an artist and try new things when the subject calls for it.

“I used a lot of live instrumentation for this project. A lot of the score was not programmed, a lot of it was not done all by me. I had to bring in musicians and sit with them and coach them through parts and get it right.

“Some of it was filmed in South Africa, so I wanted it to have the authentic flavor of African music. That’s when I brought in somebody who was African to really get that vibe, you know? And he did it. No matter what we did, you still heard that true African influence.

“Nick Santiago is my right hand on a lot of films I work on. He’s a composer, he mixes; he mixed everything. It’s important to have it mixed right, so Nick mixes everything. We understand each other and what needs to be done. Nick is like me — we don’t take any excuses when we are working. He understands that our first goal is to please our client, and the client doesn’t want to hear nothing other than ‘here’s the stuff’ and it’s right, you know?

“Nick will go the distance. He will sit up as long as he has to, just like I will, to make it happen. That’s Nick, that’s why we work together well.

“My thing, when I’m working on a film, is that the only thing that’s important after I start is that project. I make myself available, people never have to find me.

“With Ava, even after things were turned in I was following up with her. Your client shouldn’t ever have to find you. You gotta have a good work ethic, stay in touch with them, stay on point. I expect the same thing with people I work with. I shouldn’t have to find you.

“Ruphael Woldemariam is a multi-instrumentalist. He’s new to the scoring game, but he will make sure that whatever I need, I get, hands-down. He doesn’t make any excuses or anything like that, and that’s what you need when you are going to collaborate with someone on any type of media project where you have a client.

“Ruphael has played with Ziggy Marley; he’s toured with him. He’s also toured with this gentleman, Teddy Afro, who’s a big African Ethiopian star. I’ve seen pictures of some of the tours, it’s amazing. He’s a huge African star.

“Ruphael has traveled with a lot of different bands all over the world. He plays keyboard, drums, guitar — he does it all. He was born in Ethiopia, and he’s the co-owner of the Wild Hare Reggae club here in Chicago. He’s a very good man, I enjoy working with him,” Duane Buford said.

If you’re reading this and your dream is to one day become a multi-faceted, self-driven musician like Duane, listen up; he’s going to lay out the path for you.

“If you don’t have a formal education in music theory, get one. There are a lot of different materials you can find, even online or on YouTube.

“The Musician’s Institute would be the place I would tell people to go. You will get a good education and be exposed to media. It’s not just about music at the Institute, they teach people in film and television, too. It’s a great resource.

“Find a mentor, someone who’s actually doing it. Spend time with them as an intern or something, you’ll learn a lot. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that. I just had to kind of learn on my own. But even now, if I had a chance to sit with someone who’s at the caliber I’m at or even further than me, I would do it. Because education should be a lifelong goal. Always be a student, always be learning. That’s what I do, too.

“Buy online courses. Go onto LinkedIn and connect with other people who are doing the same thing, not even to physically partner up, but to get with someone who’s doing it where you can get to a point where you can ask questions. That helps a lot, man.

“I was at a place once where I thought I knew everything, but I hadn’t even scratched the surface,” Duane Buford said. “I’m gonna keep going until I can’t keep going, you know?”

The documentary Mandela in Chicago, directed by Ava Thompson Greenwell, Ph.D., and composed by Mr. Duane Buford, is available to stream at your convenience, for free, courtesy of WTTW PBS Chicago. You can watch it right here, right now.

To learn more about the documentary, check out our in-depth article, “MANDELA IN CHICAGO: Behind the Scenes of the Nelson Mandela Documentary with Director Ava Thompson Greenwell, Ph.D.“

For more resources and information for your needs and to enrich your daily lives, gather together on Chicago Devotion and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.