Music maestro A R Rahman, who had performed at the Academy awards last year, returned to the prestigious ceremony to lend music to the Oscars show.

"Oscar sangamam - If you are watching the Oscars live, catch our Oscar superband headed by Hans Zimmer perform tonight," Rahman posted on Facebook, alongwith a photo of his co-performers.

The 46-year-old composer, who won two Oscars in 2009 for Slumdog Millionaire, pleased the audience throughout Sunday night's ceremony with his instrumentals and vocals. He had performed his tracks from the film 127 Hours at the Oscars last year.

At the 84th Academy Awards, The Dark Knight Rises composer Hans Zimmer was the show's musical consultant with Pharell Williams.

The performances at the ceremony included Esperanza Spalding's rendition of Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World as a tribute to the dozens of entertainment industry professionals who died in the last 12 months, including Jane Russell, Whitney Houston, Elizabeth Taylor and Etta James.

There was also an interlude from Cirque du Soleil. The circus gymnasts took on an old-school cinema theme, performing backflips in bell-boy outfits, cocktail dresses and tuxedos.