Academy Award Nominations Dominated by BMI Composers

Posted in News on January 25, 2009

BMI composers overwhelmingly dominate the list of nominees for the 81st annual Academy Awards. Sweeping the Original Song category and garnering four out of five nods in the Original Score field, BMI composers helped create the foundations for many of the most critically acclaimed films of the year. Alexandre Desplat’s contribution to leading Oscar contender The Curious Case of Benjamin Button garnered a nod for Original Score, as did Danny Elfman’s music for Milk, A.R. Rahman’s composition for Slumdog Millionaire, and Thomas Newman’s work for WALL-E.

WALL-E’s “Down to Earth,” featuring music co-written by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman and lyrics penned by Gabriel, secured an Original Song nomination for its creative pair. Slumdog Millionaire earned two nods in the Original Song field: “Jai Ho,” featuring music by A.R. Rahman and lyrics by Gulzar and “O Saya,” whose music and lyrics were co-written by Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam, better known as M.I.A.

The Academy Awards will be broadcast live on ABC February 22. For more information on the Oscars, please visit www.oscar.com.

SOURCENews TAGS Film & TV Alexandre Desplat Danny Elfman Peter Gabriel Gulzar Thomas Newman A.R. Rahman