Killers of The Flower Moon swept up Golden Globes and Oscar nominations in 2024 after its release. The end-credits song “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” contains lyrics that stay true to the passion of the Osage nation.
The Martin Scorsese-led film received 7 nominations for the 2024 Golden Globes, including Best Drama Motion Picture, Best Screenplay of a Motion Picture, Best Director of a Motion Picture and Best Original Score. Robert De Niro was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture while Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for Best Actor in a Drama Motion Picture. Actress Lily Gladstone took home the only win for Best Actress in a Drama Motion Picture, becoming the first Indigenous actor to win a Golden Globe. It was also nominated for 11 Oscars at the Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director for Scorsese, Best Actress for Gladstone, and Best Supporting Actor for Robert De Niro.
“Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” marks the first time an Osage writer is nominated for an Academy Award. So what does “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” mean? Read more to find out.
What does "Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)" mean?
According to songwriter and Osage tribe member Scott George, “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)” is meant for listeners to “stand up and celebrate that we have survived and gotten this far with the help of our Creator.” He told IndieWire, “We’re still here,” and encapsulates what music means for the tribe. “Our songs make people come together to dance, feel good, even heal. I prayed this song would bring about healing. A worldwide audience is seeing what happened to the Osage, and I hope people will learn from it,” said George.
“By the end of the film we had to have some sense of the presence of the Osage. They survived and the music of the Osage is the best display of this extraordinary survival. I felt like we should end the film with the special piece of music created by the Osage.” Scorcese, Gladstone, and DiCaprio attended one of the In-Lon-Schka dances and were impressed by the music. The director wanted to take a modern Osage piece so that it could convey what is surviving now.
George described the hesitance to contribute. “A lot of people get invited to our dances to just look on and see what we do. But they are ceremonials, and we don’t like for them to be filmed, or recorded,” he told Variety. “We were afraid our people would say, ‘We don’t want anybody to see that.’” With the help of executive producer Marianne Bower, George understood what Scorsese wanted and his intentions.
"Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)" lyrics & translation
“Wahzhazhe no-zhin te-tha-bey / Wa-kon-da they-tho gah-ka-bey,” which translates to “Osages, stand and be recognized / God made it for us.”
What is The Killers of The Flower Moon about?
Martin Scorcese’s latest film is based on the book of the same name by David Grann. The book recounts the series of murders of the Osage Nation which William King Hale and his nephew Ernest Burkhart were the masterminds behind it. On why he decided to pursue a film adaptation of the Osage murders, Scorcese told Deadline, “What I responded to when I read David Grann’s book was the natural order of things. The idea that one could rationalize that if the Osage are not going to be of any use, if they’re going to be phased out anyway, why don’t we just, you know, help them go? And, ultimately, do we really feel any guilt for that?”
Leonardo DiCaprio initially was signed on to star as FBI agent Tom White but Scorcese decided he should play Burhart. “Leo DiCaprio looked at me and said, “Where’s the heart in this movie?” This was when Eric Roth and I were writing the script from the point of view of the FBI coming in and unraveling everything. Look, the minute the FBI comes in, and you see a character that would be played by Robert De Niro, Bill Hale, you know he’s a bad guy. There’s no mystery. So, what is it? A police procedural? Who cares! We’ve got fantastic ones on television.”
Lily Gladstone, who is the first Native American actress nominated for Best Actress at the Academy awards, explained to Rolling Stone about the decision to focus more on Ernest and Mollie’s relationship. “Their voices, especially Wilson Pipestem’s, did a lot to inform Mollie, and a lot of the scenes and lines that were rewritten came from him sharing stories,” they explained. “There’s an Osage saying that if you have a sister you have wealth, so that became a line in the movie. It’s the last thing that Mollie says to Anna: ‘You’re my wealth.’ The way a lot of cultures are elated about the birth of a baby boy, the Osage feel that way when a girl is born.”
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