British composer Dale Sumner hopes the audience feels the emotional content and connects to the characters in his debut Nepali film Dying Candle Kathmandu For many the April 25 earthquake of 2015 became a hindrance, but for British film composer Dale Sumner it created an opportunity to write music for a Nepali movie. Sumner composed the background score for Dying Candle — a directorial venture of Naresh Kumar KC. A Nepali composer had already been commissioned for the movie but the quake changed the plan. 'As the original composer was unable to write music after the devastating earthquake, I was asked to step in,' Sumner revealed in an email interview with The Himalayan Times. Sumner had no plans of entering Nepali films, but he knew KC and had discussed the possibility of collaborating on a project together. Then Dying Candle happened, where Sumner has 'created two main themes for the principal characters (brother and sister) ... Mostly I wrote to underline the emotional content in the story, using a combination of traditional Nepali sounds backed by an orchestral score'. Interested in many styles of traditional music from across the globe, Sumner likes music that has 'life' and 'soul' in it. He also has an 'interest in a number of films from various countries' which is why he stepped in to compose for a Nepali film. And he writes music for any film, no matter where it is made. 'If you have a story to tell, no matter what the language, I can write the music for it,' writes Sumner, who thinks 'film score in general is the extra 'voice' in the story, and can help, if done properly, to tell the story'. He expects the Nepali audience to be drawn in and feel the emotional content through his music that will help them bond with the characters. However, he believes that in many instances music doesn’t help in promoting the movie. 'Thirty years ago when John Williams was at the height of his career, his music was often pivotal in the success of a movie. In today's film market, many film scores are dull and boring, and do nothing whatsoever to help enhance or promote a film. There are notable exceptions however, but not many.' Born in Perth, Western Australia on February 18, 1968, Sumner moved to England when he was six. Currently living in Southampton, on the south coast of England, he had a keen ear for music from an early age. 'I don’t know what inspired me but I was just interested in music,' he mentions. Sumner studied music through school and college and took private lessons for years. He also has music qualifications for piano, tenor, trombone and music theory. Sumner, who also writes music for albums, library, short films, theatre productions and TV, likes varieties of music — western medieval, baroque and classical among others. 'I like western medieval music because I believe it allows the listeners to have a much closer connection than any other way to the people and their way of life during the period when that music was written (the history of music and it’s development is of great interest to me).' Vangelis, John Adams are some of his favourites. As for film score composers, Maurice Jarre is his favourite. 'His approach and style is incredible, and his scores for Lawrence of Arabia and Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome are my most favourite scores,' he added. Sumner's other notable works include composing score for Zombie Resurrection (2014), and Southampton Story. He has also written music for a number of short films such as If you Go Down (2013), The Obsession (2012), An Ordinary Life (2012) among others. He is a co-writer of Fedz (2013), a story about a lone detective fighting to stop the spread of a deadly virus. He has also had his music used in documentary series in the UK including Killers Behind Bars, 10 Things I Hate Most and nature documentaries like Wonders of India. After doing his first Nepali movie, the composer would love to work in more Nepali films in the future.