J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens saw the return of classic elements featured in the original Star Wars: A New Hope, which includes the Maz’s Cantina song which pays tribute to the eclectic Cantina song.
Initially, the song was not released on Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ original soundtrack, but it is now available on iTunes and StarWars.com. Titled Jabba Flow, the song was written by the Abrams and collaborator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, who is responsible for the musical Hamilton.
While the original Cantina song is purely instrumental, the Maz’s Cantina song feature lyrics sung in Huttese, a language of the slug-like Hutts of the Star Wars universe.
Despite the musical departure from the original, the tribute adheres to the circumstances of the original. In Star Wars: A New Hope, the song was first performed by a band in Tatooine, where Han Solo was first introduced and consequently a bar brawl ensued.
In Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jabba Flow retains the same setup for the original. The song was performed as Han Solo, Rey and Finn entered Maz Kanata’s Bar and true to the original, a bar fight ensues shortly after the party makes their entrance.
Miranda’s contribution to the song was first revealed back in December during Abram’s interview on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He is known for writing, composing, and starring in Hamilton, a musical biopic of U.S Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton.
For Star Wars fans who would like to expand their song library, give a Jabba Flow a listen here.
