Sri Lankan nominated for Grammy and Oscar awards

(January 27, Oslo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Sri Lankan origin Maya Arulpragasam better known as MIA has become the first Asian women to be nominated for a Gammy and Oscar Awards which are considered the highest award in the world of Music and Cinema.

Maya’s Grammy Nomination.

The 51st Annual Grammy awards nominations were announced on the December 3rd 2008 in a special concert shown on the CBS Television in the USA. The awards giving ceremony, considered the most prestigious in the music industry anywhere in the world will take place at the Staples Centre, Los Angles, California on the February 8. 2009.

The concert and the ceremony will be broadcast life by the CBS Television who are the main organisers of the event when one of the above five will be selected for the award. In the music world getting nominated for the Grammy Award itself is considered a great achievement and honour.

Mays nomination in the Grammy Award is in the ‘Record of the Year’ category for her record Paper Planes.

There are four other nominees for the award in the same category. They are;

1.‘Chasing Pavements’ - Adele

2. ‘Viva la Vida’- Coldplay

3. ‘Bleeding Love’-Leona Lewis

4. ‘Paper Planes’ - M.I.A.

5 ‘Please Read the Letter’ Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.


Maya with her father Arular Arudpragasam, Leadrer of EROS. (Cambridge 2006)

Maya’s Oscar Nomination.

The Oscar is awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as the highest award in the film industry. Normally five nominations are made to each of the 21 categories for which nominations are made. The nominations for the 81st award were announced on the January 22nd 2009.

Maya has been nominated for the category ‘Film Songs’ for the song ‘O Saya’ in the film ‘’Slumdog Milliner’ along with A.R. Rahman. The award ceremony will take place on the 22nd February 2009 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood when the result of the voting by the 5810 members of the academy will be announced. The awarding ceremony will be telecast by the ABC Television. . There are two other nominations for the best cinematic song. The are,

1. “Down to Earth” from “WALL-E” (Walt Disney), Music by Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman, Lyric by Peter Gabriel

2. “Jai Ho” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music by A.R. Rahman, Lyric by Glazer

3. “O Saya” from “Slumdog Millionaire” (Fox Searchlight), Music and Lyric by A.R. Rahman and Maya Arulpragasam

This is the first time any Asian has been nominated for both Grammy and Oscar awards which itself is a great achievement. Her chances of wining an Oscar are extremely good on the 22nd of February 2009. One can bet on it. - Sri Lanka Guardian