Music

The soundtrack of Beyond Good & Evil was composed by Christophe Héral. Héral was hired by Michel Ancel to compose the game's soundtrack due to his background in film.

Production

Hubert Chevillard, a director that Ancel had worked with, had also worked with Héral on a television special, The Pantin Pirouette, and referred him to Ancel. Héral was assisted by Laetitia Pansanel, who orchestrated the pieces, and his brother Patrice Héral, who performed some of the percussion and singing. The soundtrack was completed over a 2 year period, from 2001 to 2003.

The soundtrack incorporates a wide variety of languages, instruments and styles from around the world. In developing the score, Héral wasn't tied to any singular geographical reference, incorporating diverse global influences into the music. Several of the pieces feature vocals performed largely in made-up languages to reflect the alien setting, while also incorporating words in English, Spanish and French. The lyrics for the DomZ music were created from a fictional language with prominent rolling "r" sounds.

Songs

The song 'Propaganda', which plays in the game's Akuda Bar, includes a sample of spoken Bulgarian, inspired by the Soviet propaganda climate of the Cold War. It uses a recording of a telephone conversation by Héral with a female Bulgarian friend to represent the government's control of the media, as well as ideas of communications-tapping and surveillance states. Héral and his brother Patrice performed the song's rapped vocals. In an interview with BG&EMyth.net, Héral explained that the actual lyrics were mostly made-up words, aside from the lines "just do vite" (just do it quick).. "(John Wayne!).. adjuste le hit" (adjust the hit). The song also incorporates Arabic string instruments and Indian percussion.  

Christophe also provided vocals for the song 'Something Completely Different', which plays in the Main Canal after General Kehck's speeches. His voice heavily pitched-down, Héral improvises unintelligable lyrics set to strings and a Middle-Eastern beat.  

Patrice also contributed vocals to the songs 'Slaughterhouse Scramble' (the manic gibberish rocker that plays during the hovercraft Races), and the reggae-influenced 'Mammago Garage'.

'Salud Juanito!' (previously titled 'Fun and Mini-Games') - the other song that plays during the races, features primarily Spanish lyrics, such as the chorus "¡Ole, olé! ¡Ole, olé! Cuatro ruela del sol".

Original Soundtrack

The soundtrack was officially released by Ubisoft for a limited time in 2003. It was released again in March 2011 for a short period, in line with the release of the HD Remaster.

1. In The Beginning
2. Dancing With Domz
3. Home Sweet Home
4. Hillyan Suite
5. Mammago's Garage
6. Isle de Noir
7. Mineshaft Madness
8. Say Cheese, Fellas
9. Akuda House Propaganda
10. Ancient Chinese Secrets
11. Don't Fear the Reaper
12. Fear the Reaper
13. Fun and Mini-Games
14. Funky Bar 100
15. When Domz Attack
16. Slaugherhouse Scramble
17. Sneaky Jade Suite
18. Organic Beauty
19. Violent Jade Suite
20. Heart of Darkness
21. Metal Gear Domz
22. Something Completely Different
23. Behing Enemy Lines
24. Free Your Mind
25. Thoughtful Reflections
26. Enfants Disparus
27. Above and Beyond
28. Unacceptable Losses
29. In Hot Pursuit

You can download the OST for free, including the piece 'Final Suite' here.

20th Anniversary Soundtrack

Christophe Héral overseeing the 20th Anniversary re-recording.

For the 20th Anniversary Edition of the game, the soundtrack was remastered, with some pieces being re-recorded and orchestrated by the Opéra Orchestre national Montpellier, with Christophe Héral overseeing the process. Their vision was to re-record the choral and orchestral sections, while keeping the original percussion and solo instruments. Héral noted that for the original recordings he had access to at most 10 instruments for a string section, compared to 40 for the re-recording.

The new soundtrack was released digitally on streaming platforms on June 26, 2024. It contains substantially more tracks than the original released. Some tracks have also been renamed from the original release. A vinyl version of the new soundtrack was also released in September 2024 (with some tracks cut).

#	Title	Length	Notes
1	In the Beginning	3:07
2	Home Sweet Home	2:56
3	Akuda House Propaganda	2:42
4	Hillyan Safari	2:12	originally part of Hillyan Suite
5	DomZ Metallic Menace	1:39	originally titled Metal Gear Domz
6	Hillyan Ballad	1:40	originally part of Hillyan Suite
7	Indulgent Dad	2:04
8	Revealing Photo	1:11
9	Salud Juanito!	1:56	originally titled Fun and Mini-Games
10	Dancing with DomZ	3:18
11	Ming's Melody	2:57	originally titled Ancient Chinese Secrets
12	Palinurus Plight	2:46	originally part of Violent Jade Suite
13	Unacceptable Losses	1:14
14	Monkey Business	1:45
15	Fluorescent Fight	1:33
16	Slipping In	3:59	originally part of Sneaky Jade Suite, contains part of Behind Enemy Lines
17	Mammago Garage	2:39
18	Above and Beyond	3:30
19	Hillyan Tour	1:12
20	Heart of Darkness	2:16
21	Always Crabby	1:20	originally part of Violent Jade Suite
22	When DomZ Attack	1:18
23	Funky Racing	2:46	originally titled Funky Bar 100
24	Don't Fear the Reaper	3:59
25	Pirate Warrior	1:49
26	Sins of the Father	2:21
27	About Jade	0:47
28	Black Isle Welcome	1:04
29	Self-Destruction	1:44
30	Barbara Bots	1:35	originally part of Violent Jade Suite
31	Enfants Disparus	2:19
32	Alpha Section Alert	1:04
33	Mine-Ful	2:41
34	In Hot Pursuit	1:22
35	Hillyan Ballad (Composer's Cut)	1:35
36	Slaughterhouse Scramble	2:15
37	Guiding Light	2:15
38	Fear the Reaper	2:14
39	Into the Under	4:38	contains Isle de Noir and Mineshaft Madness
40	Say Cheese, Fellas	1:41
41	Organic Beauty	2:03
42	Something Completely Different	1:57
43	Free Your Mind	1:52
44	Thoughtful Reflection	2:23
45	Caught in the Act	1:35	originally part of Sneaky Jade Suite
46	Factory Secrets	1:21
47	Redemption	2:19	originally titled Final Suite

The vinyl version does not include Dancing with DomZ, Fluorescent Fight, Above and Beyond, Heart of Darkness, Don't Fear the Reaper, Sins of the Father, Into the Under, and Organic Beauty.

Other Music

Other than the official soundtrack, other pieces of musical audio were not included, most of these can be found on the internet but most notably 'Final Suite', the music played during the last cutscene (not the epilogue cutscene).

Trivia

• A song called "Funky Mullah" was originally planned to be used in the Akuda Bar, but it was replaced by "Propaganda" because Héral decided that its muezzin vocals, recorded on September 8, 2001, would have been in bad taste in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

• The crashing metal sound effects of "Metal Gear DomZ", music played during a boss fight, were recorded from the son of Héral's neighbor playing with scrap metal.

• In addition to his brother Patrice, Christophe Héral was assisted in recording by his daughter, who contributed vocals to the game's final suite 'Redemption'.

• According to Héral, the music helped to influence the art design, as well as vice versa. For example, his use of Arabic strings inspired the team to add an element of Moorish architecture to Hillys City.

• The soundtrack is featured in the Video Games Live international concert tour.