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He Found the American Dream— Writing Hollywood’s Hottest Music RAMIN DJAWADI The German-Iranian composer wrote the theme to Game of Thrones.“Now I don’t have to spell my name as much anymore!”
Djawadi will take Game of Thrones live on an arena tour (here in rehearsals) Feb. 20.
PROFESSION Film and television composer BORN Germany LIVES Los Angeles
Getting Inspired
“I was absolutely surprised at how popular the show has become,” says Ramin Djawadi, 42, composer for HBO’s hit show as well as for Westworld and films like Iron Man. “You never know when something will be a hit. But it’s not really TV. It’s more like an epic 10-hour movie. When the producers asked me to come up with the main title, it ended up being close to two minutes because it had to summarize the whole tone of the show. It really had to feel like a journey.”
“I try to dream about it,” says Djawadi, who is married to Jennifer Hawks and is raising twins in Los Angeles. “I go on walks. I hum it. I tinker at the piano. Sometimes I get up in the middle of the night and just start singing into my iPhone.”
be a doctor like my dad, but I knew I wanted to do film music. I loved the U.S. as a country, and after attending Berklee College of Music, I moved to L.A. to start my career. By pure luck I met and worked with Hans Zimmer, who was a big mentor.”
Musical Beginnings Coming to America “I always knew I wanted to move to the States,” says Djawadi, who was born in Duisburg, Germany, to a German mother and Iranian father, who is a doctor. “At one point I was supposed to
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“As a composer, you have to be able to switch through a lot of styles,” Djawadi says. “I grew up listening to western pop at home, but then also traditional Middle Eastern music and, being in Germany, a lot of classical music. Even now, as a music fan I will switch from Beethoven to Coldplay. I’m all over the place!” —GILLIAN TELLING
JOEY COBB; INSET: COURTESY GAME OF THRONES CONCERT TOUR
Embracing GoT’s Popularity
A FAN FAVORITE “After the first episode of Game of Thrones, the producers sent me a link of someone doing a rock version of the theme song, then a techno version, then one with cats meowing. It was incredible seeing people all over the world being inspired to do their own renditions.”