Baba Yetu

Christopher Tin is the talented composer of Baba Yetu. Tin was born on May 21, 1976. Tin is
currently 41 and has been very successful throughout his life span. He is an American
composer of concert music, film, and video game scores. His work is mainly orchestral and
choral. Tin has won two grammys for his “classical crossover album, Calling All Dawns”.
However; Tin is best known for his choral piece, Baba Yetu. Tin was a student at the Royal
College of Music. He found his first professional employment as a staff arranger for Silva
Screen Records; his job was to transcribe orchestral film scores. He moved to Los Angeles in
2000 and continued to arrange scores for Silva Screen Records to pay his way while searching
for more permanent employment. Since then, Tin’s career took off.

Baba Yetu is a choral song written and sung in swahili. Baba yetu directly translates to: ‘our
father’. It is the theme song for the 2005 video game, Civilization IV. It is performed by Ron
Ragin and the Stanford Talisman. It was also performed by the Soweto Gospel Choir for its re-
release in Christopher Tin’s debut album. Baba Yetu was rearranged by Tin for an SATB a
cappella choir with optional percussion. Baba Yetu was nominated for the 53rd annual Grammy
Awards in the Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) category, making it the
first video game theme song nominated for a Grammy. On February 13, 2011, it was
announced as the winner of its category, making it the first piece of music composed for a video
game to win a Grammy Award. Baba Yetu is still performed by choir’s nationwide and continues
to thrive with excellence to this day.

I personally really enjoy the song, Baba Yetu. It is my favorite one out of all the ones we are
singing for our Spring concert. I think the vocalists who sing it on the original track sound
beautiful. I find it very amusing how even though I do not understand what the song says, it still
finds a way to make me jam along to it. I have never heard Baba Yetu until Ms.Wallace showed
it to us, and I’m glad she did because I have come to love it. I am very excited to sing it at the
Spring concert this year!