Jonas Bonnetta scores Finish It

A new commercial/PSA to mark World Cancer Day Feb 4 has been released featuring two Canadian activist heroes, Terry Fox and Gord Downie. The video was scored by Jonas Bonnetta aka Evening Hymns. With roots in Orono but living in Mountain Grove Bonnetta is one of the Durham Region’s most intriguing musicians. Here’s what he has posted on his Facebook about the Finish It project.

“Last summer I was contacted by a music supervisor in L.A. wondering if I'd be interested in composing music for The Terry Fox Foundation. They'd heard my score to All This Here, my soundtrack for the doc on the Fogo Island Inn, and thought it might be a nice fit. The creative directors on the campaign had this idea about using Courage (for Hugh MacLellan) by The Tragically Hip. I was away in California at the time for my sister's wedding and the turnaround was wildly tight. Thankfully there was a grand piano in our airbnb (okay universe) and I was able to borrow my brother-in-law's gaming headphones and portable recorder and use my brother's laptop to make a quick sketch of what I envisioned. Then the creative team got me an isolated stem of Gord's vocal (maybe the greatest gift of this project) and I was instantly invested. With two of my aunts undergoing cancer treatment at the time it was easy for me to find emotion in this.

The video that they sent me to work off was so profoundly moving it still chokes me up (shout out to @markzibert and Scouts.tv). It was truly a beautiful project to be involved in from top to bottom and I'm profoundly grateful to Steph Pigott and Walker LA for trusting me to marry music with these powerful images.” - Jonas Bonnetta

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