Original soundtrack to the 2002 motion picture THE TOUCH. Music composed by Basil Poledouris. THE TOUCH tells the story of a Chinese family of martial arts acrobats who are, in secret, the guardians of a holy treasure. Their ingrained acrobatic skills (their unique "touch") allow only them to access the hidden relic. When a ruthless treasure hunter (Roxburgh) kidnaps a member of the family in order to procure the object, the rest of the family, including the eldest daughter's American ex-boyfriend (Chaplin), pursues him in order to rescue their sibling and recover the treasure. Director Peter Pau was looking for a composer to write a large scale orchestral score for the film, along the lines of Jerry Goldsmith or John Williams. Editor Marshall Harvey was an acquaintance of composer Basil Poledouris and after showing him some footage from the climax of the film, the composer became interested in becoming part of the project. While the director wanted a large symphonic musical score, he also asked the composer to incorporate some ethnic instruments - the er-hu (Chinese two-string violin), pipa (Chinese lute), and xiao (an end-blown Chinese flute) - in order for the score to evoke the fictional legends that lay at the heart of the story. Basil Poledouris started taking piano lessons when he was 7 years old. Eventually, he went on to become a student at USC, where he studied directing, cinematography, editing, sound and music. In over two decades of scoring motion pictures, he has proven himself a master of melody and emotional power, forging rewarding creative relationships with directors such as Paul Verhoeven, John Milius, Randal Kleiser, Simon Wincer and John Waters. Basil has composed music for films such as BIG WEDNESDAY, THE BLUE LAGOON, CONAN THE BARBARIAN, RED DAWN, ROBOCOP, FLESH AND BLOOD, QUIGLEY DOWN UNDER, THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, and STARSHIP TROOPERS.