With just a script in hand, the Swedish composer flew to Mexico City where he spent time with a music archaeologist to reimagine Mayan music. He later jetted to Lagos, Nigeria, with college friend ...

A few weeks before the Oscar ceremony on March 12, Göransson chatted with THR about convincing Rihanna to record the track, discovering Mayan music and compiling a massive wish list of collaborators.

“Mayan music and the culture was forcibly erased, so we don’t know exactly what that music sounded like,” Göransson told the trade. “The first thing I did when thinking how we can ...