'Following that drum': Oscar-nominated Osage composer Scott George heads to Academy Awards

When he was a teenager first learning to sing at powwows, dances and other tribal events, Osage Nation citizen Scott George received some now-prophetic encouragement from his Kiowa uncle, Evans Ray Satepauhoodle.

"He said, 'Our people believe that if you'll follow this drum, that good things will happen to you, that it will take you places' — and all the older men that we were around all said the same thing," George said during an interview at his Del City home.

"I don't think they had (the) Oscars in mind, but it has been a good life following that drum."

Along with his fellow Osage Tribal Singers, George, 66, is following the drum to the 96th Academy Awards, airing at 6 p.m. Sunday on ABC.

They will perform live on the broadcast “Wahzhazhe (A Song For My People)," the Oscar-nominated song George created for Martin Scorsese’s Oklahoma-made historical epic “Killers of the Flower Moon."

"I keep trying to find a way to describe it, or wrap my mind around it, and I don't think I'm gonna be able to, because you can't really when it wasn't your aspiration to begin with," the Osage singer, drummer and composer told The Oklahoman.

"It goes along with the same thoughts we have about the movie. ... When you see us up on stage, we're hoping that you see us as a people that have survived and that are able to hold on to what we have."

Osage composer makes cinema history with his Oscar nomination

Crafting the music and lyrics to his 6 1/2-minute Osage-language anthem — featured in the emotional final scenes of Scorsese's fact-based historical drama — has earned George a special place in cinema history: He is the first Indigenous nominee in the Oscars best original song category, as well as the first member of the Osage Nation to be nominated for an Academy Award.

Primarily filmed in and around Osage County in 2021, "Killers of the Flower Moon" focuses on a grim and often-overlooked chapter of Oklahoma history: The 1920s "Reign of Terror," a series of ruthless murders of oil-rich Osage Nation citizens.

"Killers of the Flower Moon" is competing for 10 Oscars, including best picture, but George's nomination might be the most impressive.

As his fellow nominees include Diane Warren, Mark Ronson, Jon Batiste and Billie Eilish, he is the only one of this year's best original song contenders who isn't a Grammy-winning songwriter or recording artist.

"What's really odd is being on a Zoom call with all of them at the same time — and I've done that twice," George said with a smile.

Raised in Hominy, George has worked in tribal housing for 30 years and has served as the director of the Shawnee-based Citizen Potawatomi Nation's housing department for the past decade.

"So, there's no way I could have dreamed this would happen," he said.

Oklahoma singer feels 'a spirit comes in' when he gathers around the drum

It may not be his day job, but the native Kansan has been singing Native American songs for about half a century and composing them for the past 20 years.

"There's a feeling that you have when you're singing around that drum, and all the dancers gather around you. We say it's like a spirit comes in there, and the first time I felt that, then I was like, 'Yeah, this is what I want to do.' Because once you feel that, then you want to feel it again. It's not unlike going to a church revival or something," he said.

Although he has sung at countless powwows, George said he particularly feels that spirit when he performs at the Osage Nation's ceremonial Inlonshka dances. The series of four-day dances takes place annually in June in each of the Oklahoma-based tribe's three districts: Grayhorse, Hominy and Pawhuska.

Oscar nominee reluctantly joined 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

Until recently, George served as head singer for the Grayhorse Drumkeeper committee for 10 years, including while Scorsese, fellow Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone and past Oscar winner Leonardo DiCaprio were working on "Killers of the Flower Moon" in the Osage Nation.

"They come to watch us dance: Martin, Leo and Lily were sitting in the stands while I was singing. We were taking a water break ... and I could see them sitting up there. And I told one of my brothers sitting next to me, 'Well, get ready; they're gonna be asking us to do something.' And we had chosen at that point to kind of stay out of it," George recalled.

At Inlonshka dances, no photography, cellphones or video cameras are permitted under the dance arbor or after the dance starts. So, George and his cohorts were concerned the moviemakers would want to film or re-create the ceremonial dances.

But Scorsese had something else in mind.

"By the end of the film, we had to have some sense of the presence of the Osage: They survive, and the music of the Osage is the best display of this extraordinary survival," Scorsese said in a behind-the-scenes featurette. "I felt that we should end the film with a special piece of music created by the Osage."

Composing 'Killers of the Flower Moon' anthem presented a special challenge

Although he already had composed a half-dozen songs, George said crafting the "Killers of the Flower Moon" coda presented a special challenge.

Starting in 2000 with a musical homage to one of his dearest mentors and adoptive father, the late Morris Lookout, the singer had primarily created honor songs in tribute to different people, either out of love or by request.

And he had mostly composed them in the Ponca language, which is similar to the languages of the Osage, Omaha, Kaw and Quapaw tribes and often used in powwow and dance songs.

Still, he and fellow singer Vann Bighorse, then the director of the Osage Nation Language Department, accepted the challenge, each composing an original Osage-language song for the movie. George kept his song simple, but with a message he hoped would help his people heal after the movie's vital but painful revisting of such a tragic time in Osage history.

"'Wahzhazhe' is what we call ourselves now ... and I'm asking my people to stand up. I want them to stand up with the understanding that God brought us all through that, and we're here today because of that. And we should be thankful," George said, his voice thickening with emotion.

"Vann, the song he made had similar context to it ... because we wanted them to go on. Because once this is over — once March 10 is over — it's still our song. We can use it in celebrations or to honor somebody."

Ahead of the Oscars, Osage singer already has performed for the pope and the Smithsonian

Of the two new Osage songs, Scorsese and his collaborators chose George's for the movie. The "Killers of the Flower Moon" team returned to Pawhuska in May 2022 to film the final scenes of contemporary Osage people dancing around a large drum as the singers performed the new anthem.

"We sang Vann's first, and then we sang mine," George said. "We sang that song probably a dozen times, with a dozen takes, throughout the whole afternoon. ... Once we got done with it, we were pretty worn out and tired — and pretty much thought that would be it. It was fun. Let's go on back to our lives."

Then, the phone calls started, first with requests to attend various "Killers of the Flower Moon" premieres and events, then with news that stunned him.

"They said, 'You might be up for the best original song.' I'm like, 'How's that? ... There's no orchestra. There's nothing like that.' And they said, 'Well, it's about as original as it gets, I guess.' So, we went from there," George said, adding that he had to scramble to find someone to transcribe his song to Western sheet music so it could be officially submitted for the Oscars.

"To get through the process was a difficult task ... but I'm excited that people will get to hear us."

Even before Sunday's Oscars broadcast, he and the Osage Tribal Singers have performed his song at the Los Angeles premiere of "Killers of the Flower Moon" and at a special screening of the movie at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

"After singing for this long, all the nervousness is probably gone. We've sang for all kinds of situations. We sang for the pope ... with the Osage Ballet once (in 2015). We sang in an opera," George said.

"We've had some interesting experiences, and it goes along with that teaching that they were telling us: You keep following this drum, and it's gonna take you places. And it has."

How to watch the Oscars

The 96th Academy Awards will air live the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood at 6 p.m. Sunday on ABC.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oscar-nominated Osage composer follows drum to Sunday's Academy Awards