Bluey is the big winner at the 2021 APRA Screen Music Awards
Bluey blew away the ARIA albums chart last year to claim a No. 1 no one saw coming.
On Monday night (Feb. 21), the animated series did it again at the 2021 APRA Screen Music Awards, where Bluey’s music composer Joff Bush won both categories he was nominated in.
Bush took out Best Music for Children’s Programming for Bluey, and doubled up, this time with his co-composers David Barber, Helena Czajka, Marly Lüske, Lachlan Nicolson and Steve Peach, on Best Soundtrack Album for Bluey: The Album.
This brace represents Bush’s first ever Screen Music Awards wins.
Featuring 17 original compositions, Bluey The Album debuted at No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart in January 2021, becoming the first Aussie children’s album to top the tally.
Another first-time winner at the 2021 Screen Music Award is Brian Cachia, who snagged Feature Film Score of the Year for the horror thriller Bloody Hell.
Also on the night, the Best Original Song Composed for the Screen went to ‘Bagi-la-m Bargan,’ composed by first-time Screen Music Awards-winners Nathan Bird (pka Birdz), Fred Leone and Daniel Rankine (pka Trials) and written for the NITV one-hour documentary Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky, a fresh look at Captain Cook’s legacy from a First Nations’ perspective.
Watch ‘Bagi-la-m Bargan’:
Other winners include Caitlin Yeo (Best Music for a Documentary for Playing with Sharks), Adam Moses (Best Music for a Short Film for Yellow Jack), Cezary Skubiszewski & Jan Skubiszewski (Best Television Theme for Halifax Retribution) and Roger Mason (Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie for Hungry Ghosts).
The annual awards celebrate composers who’ve “created the music for screen gems” over the past year, across film and TV, documentaries, and advertisements, as well as those who’ve had a massive impact locally and internationally.
The 2021 Screen Music Awards were delayed due to the pandemic, and winners were unveiled without the platform of a physical event.
According to organisers APRA AMCOS and the Australian Guild of Screen Composers, the 2022 Screen Music Awards will be staged in the usual timeframe of November.
WINNERS – 2021 SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS
Feature Film Score of the Year
Title Bloody Hell
Composed by Brian Cachia
Best Music for a Documentary
Title Playing with Sharks
Composed by Caitlin Yeo
Best Music for a Short Film
Title Yellow Jack
Composed by Adam Moses
Best Soundtrack Album
Title Bluey The Album
Composed by Joff Bush, David Barber, Helena Czajka, Marly Lüske, Lachlan Nicolson & Steve Peach
Published by Universal Music Publishing obo BBC Worldwide Limited
Best Original Song Composed for the Screen
Title Bagi-la-m Bargan from Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky
Composed by Nathan Bird*, Fred Leone & Daniel Rankine^
Published by Sony Music Publishing obo Bad Apples Music Publishing* / Sony Music Publishing obo Blue
Max Music Publishing^
Best Music for Children’s Programming
Title Bluey
Composed by Joff Bush
Published by Universal Music Publishing obo BBC Worldwide Limited
Best Television Theme
Title Halifax Retribution
Composed by Cezary Skubiszewski & Jan Skubiszewski*
Published by Sony Music Publishing obo Beyond Properties / Mushroom Music*
Best Music for a Television Series or Serial
Title Jack Irish
Composed by David McCormack & Antony Partos
Published by Sonar Music
Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie
Title Hungry Ghosts
Composed by Roger Mason
Best Music for an Advertisement
Title The Untold Tale of Isabelle Simi
Composed by Jonathan Dreyfus & Daniel Müller
Most Performed Screen Composer – Australia
Composers: Adam Gock and Dinesh Wicks
For: Masterchef, 20 to 1, Anh’s Brush with Fame
Most Performed Screen Composer – Overseas
Composer: Neil Sutherland
For: Border Security, Mythbusters, Bondi Vet
This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.