Slumdog Millionaire

I have a feeling "Slumdog Millionaire" is going to steal the show, and probably win Best Picture, Best Score, Best Song, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It was a good movie, and I enjoyed the music.

Ironically, I have written about the film's composer, A.R. Rahman, for the University of Illinois Electrical & Computer Engineering Department. He is a fan of Lecturer Lippold Haken's instrument called the Continuum Fingerboard, a very cool fretless keyboard, without keys. I'm not sure if Rahman used the Continuum in "Slumdog Millionaire," but it's possible. There seems to be a lot of unique sounds in the two songs up for awards: O Saya and Jai Ho. Surprisingly, the Academy only felt the need to nominate three songs this year -- the two from Rahman and Peter Gabriel's Down to Earth from "WALL-E."

Here is Rahman's song Jai Ho, which appears near the end of the movie if I remember correctly:



Artist M.I.A. also contributes to the movie with her Paper Planes song: