Civ IV composer honored with gaming's first Grammy nomination

The gaming industry received its first Grammy nomination for composer Christopher Tin's 'Baba Yetu,' the hauntingly epic opening score to 2005's Civilization IV.

The song (which could even make buttering toast sound monumental) was short-listed for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" and will compete for the big prize on February 13th, 2011 at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards.

Though it's technically been around for five years, Baba Yetu has lived on well past its Civ IV roots in countless live performances and as a fan favorite at Video Games Live, as seen below in a recent PBS documentary.

Christopher Tin also received a second Grammy nod in the "Best Classical Crossover Album" category for his freshman album, Calling All Dawns, which includes the nominated Civ IV track. His past work includes composing music for a number of games, films and game-related films such as 2010's Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic and next year's Dead Space: Aftermath.

Video game music has come a long way from the (still-beloved)8-bit bloops and bleeps of yesteryear. Up until now, however, they've been woefully disregarded by most audiophiles outside of the industry. Baba Yetu may justbe one of countless gaming tracks that deserve Grammy loving, but at least its nomination shows thatmainstream critics are starting totake notice ofgaming's niche muscial heros.

Dec 3, 2010

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