8.3 Baba Yetu

Most people don’t think much about the music played in video games. They might consider it childish, or just something that can easily be ignored.  But that’s beginning to change. 

A song for a video game won a Grammy Award. Named Baba Yetu, the song was composed by Christopher Tin and was included on his first album in 2009. The lyrics of this unique song are a Swahili translation of the Lord’s Prayer. Later, it appeared as the intro song for the game Civilization IV, and attracted a lot of attention. Civilization IV is one of the first video games that features music created by composers and orchestras. After Civilization IV was released, it won the praise of many game reviewers. And eventually, at the 53rd Annual Music Awards, the song won the Grammy for “Best Instrumental Arrangement with Vocalists.”

When accepting the award, Tin said “This is historic because Baba Yetu is the first song written for a video game to win a Grammy. I hope this encourages more people to start paying attention to video game music.”