Gustavo Santaolalla Wins BAFTA Award for BABEL Score

“Multiple Award winning music composer, songwriter and producer Gustavo Santaolalla has again been recognized with another top international cinema award for his critically acclaimed film scores. Sunday evening in London, the innovative composer received a BAFTA Award for his work on Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s award-winning Babel. The British Academy’s presentation of The Anthony Asquith Award for Achievement in Film Music to Santaolalla is the famed Argentine’s second BAFTA Award, having previously won for his score of The Motorcycle Diaries.

Described by The Today Show as “marvelous, engulfing music,” Santaolalla’s score for Babel is also nominated for an OSCAR Award this year. This will mark Santaolalla’s second consecutive trip to the Oscar Ceremony, having won the “Best Original Score” Award last year for his widely-praised work on Brokeback Mountain.

Santaolalla’s music career started at the age of 16, when he wrote, recorded and produced his first single in his native Argentina. He founded the band Arco Iris in 1967 and made history as the pioneer in the fusion of rock and Latin American Folk. He relocated to Los Angeles in the late 70’s. His success continued with the launch of his highly successful record label, Surco, where he has produced records for Juanes, Molotov, Bajofondo Tango Club and other premiere Latin acts. In addition to Santaolalla’s OSCAR, GOLDEN GLOBE, GRAMMY and LATIN GRAMMY victories, he has also been featured as one of Time Magazine’s “25 Most Influential Hispanics in America”. Currently, Santaolalla is working on scores for the upcoming films On the Road, based on the life of Jack Kerouac, and the documentary Café de los Maestros, about the legendary tango musicians of Argentina. This spring will also see the second album release from Bajofondo Tango Club, the Santaolalla led collective exploring the fusion of modern tango and electronica. “

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