HOLLYWOOD : MAGIC BRINGING SCORES

THE first few months of 2019 were huge for ''Black Panther'' and Donald Glover. Ryan Coogler's  superhero movie took home three Oscars, including the best prize for best score.

At the Grammys, were it won again, Glover's musical alter ego Childish Gambino picked up four trophies for the ambitious political music video and song ''This Is America.''

Both had something in common : a long haired, lightly bearded Swedish musician named Ludwig Goransson.

Goransson may not be a household name, but he's a well-known face behind the scene. 

[His brief moment in the spotlight came when he accepted the record of the year Grammy for ''This Is America'' and tanked 21 Savage, who was absent, in detention by the United States immigration authorities.]

He did innovative soundtrack work for Coogler's Rocky film ''Creed'' as well as the director's breakthrough, ''Fruitvale Station.'' Goransson is currently at work on Christopher Nolan's ''Tenet'', but his next major project arrived in the past week : He scored all eight episodes of the Disney Plus  ''Star Wars'' series ''The Mandalorian.''

The key to the modern-western of ''The Mandalorian''? A flute theme that Goransson came up with once Jon Favreau, the show's creator, shared his vision - which involved a lonesome rider and a samurai inspiration.

The series exist in ''more of a dystopic part of the 'Star Wars' history,'' Favreau said, and ''technology and deconstruction are themes that we explore.''

With that in mind, Goransson locked himself in his studio for a month and intuitively brought a bunch of rarely heard bass woodwind recorders.

He started improvising going into an almost meditative state, he said, creating a sprawling four hours of score that he spent the past year writing and recording with top composer Hollywood musicians.

Goransson, 35, said he fell into his relationships with some of Hollywood's most exciting young talents by chance.

He till it off with Coogler, a fellow student at the University of Southern California, in 2007 over a game of pool at a Frat house when Coogler brought up his favorite  Swedish  hip-hop artists.

After graduating from U.S.C's screen scoring program, Goransson got his first big gig as a composer for the NBC series ''Community.'' Glover, one of the show's stars came to Goransson's studio to record vocals for an outrageous Irish-tango cover of the song ''Somewhere Out There'' from ''An American tail.''

We kind of a laughed - we had a good time together,'' said Goransson. ''A couple weeks later, he emailed me and was like, ''Hey man, I'm also a rapper, so I wondered if you could take a listen to this, and maybe mix my song?''

What drew Glover in? ''I had the classical background and jazz background,'' Goransson said. ''I could being something different to the table.''

Goransson did not grow up in the hip hop world, but music has been his constant since he was ''little Ludde'' from Linkoping, Sweden.

His mother, a florist from Poland, and his father, a guitar teacher at the local music school, filled the house with songs ranging from classical rock to Swedish folk.

The honor and serving of the latest breakthroughs in Music and Fine Arts, continues. The World Students Society thanks author Tim Greiving.