Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Musician, producer, composer; global collaborations with London Symphony Orchestra, Paul McCartney; Hollywood film scores.
On the island
Eight records
Mustt MusttFavourite
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan & Massive Attack
I love this track and particularly Massive Attack's remix.
Paco de Lucia for me is my favourite, probably my favourite musician who's ever lived.
Joni Mitchell, who's oh my god, I mean like when when I was a teenager, Joni Mitchell was on rotation.
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune
If you play through arabesque on the piano, it's like a waterfall.
Shakthi was my favourite band when I was growing up just because I could not believe what I was hearing.
This is from Sue Georges and it's his interpretation of Life on Mars.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:36How do you describe what you do and the music that you make?
Wow, that's a big question. I guess it's for me, music's just gotta come from the heart and it's about catharsis... I think of music as a language, as you were saying. It's always felt that way to me, and I think I realized a few years ago that I'd spent more time playing music than I had speaking in my life.
Presenter asks
5:33Tell me about that encounter [with Nelson Mandela].
I met him in his house in Johannesburg, and it was weird because I just literally read the last page of Long Walk to Freedom... the most amazing part of that experience was when his PA came into the room and said, Madiba... the president, is on the phone to speak to you. And he looked at me and just said, How many more questions have you got? ... he turned to his PA and said, Could you ask him to call back in ten minutes? ... I nearly burst into tears because for me, I thought, wow, that guy's actually real.
Presenter asks
9:22Tell me a little bit more about your mum. I know that you described her once as the power behind the throne.
So, yeah, I think she's a very measured sort of person. She knows a lot of Sanskrit. She's very graceful. She was a Bharat Nathyam dancer, an Indian classical dancer. She's an incredible poet... the power that comes from her is not a power that's loud and brash. It's a power that's still and thoughtful and draws a lot of energy from everywhere. She was the first one to spot your musical ability.
The keepsakes
The book
David Deutsch
My book would be The Fabric of Reality from David Deutsch. David Deutsch came up with an idea which people know of as the multiverse, where he talks about parallel universes. I went and interviewed David Deutsch after reading this book at Oxford University, where he was a visiting professor. It was almost like a pilgrimage. When I'd read this book, I thought, I need to understand this. This guy's talking about the nature of everything. And it was just mind-blowing. The stuff he was telling me. And really inspiring book. And the first chapter of it alone blows your mind.
The luxury
I'd like to take a desalinating water bottle. I remember seeing this guy do a TED talk where he was demonstrating how this water bottle could actually literally be put in sewage water and then you could pull it out and you could spray water from it into another bottle and drink it. And I thought, that can't be possible. And it apparently is.
Presenter asks
15:10Given that experience [at school], how did you describe your own sense of identity at the time?
I've actually talked about this with my therapist. ... It's weird because I was attacked physically and verbally, almost on a daily basis for quite a while when I was very young. And there was part of me that has a bit of loathing for that person. I actually felt that that person was a bit weak and pathetic... that kind of mentality stays with you, that you kind of feel a sense of shame about abuse of all kinds. ... I think in some ways that negativity, that feeling of shame actually drove quite a lot of my creativity at the time.
Presenter asks
29:10What changed your mind [about accepting the CBE after turning down the OBE]?
So when I turned down the OBE, there were two main reasons. One was the war in Iraq, and the second reason was I couldn't really handle the idea of the word empire after my name. ... Then I got a letter last year on his birthday. ... I wanted to acknowledge my mum and dad's immigrant experience. ... I've taken that award not for any title, but to acknowledge my parents and their journey as immigrants, to honour both of them.
“music's just gotta come from the heart and it's about catharsis, it's about really expressing what you feel.”
“I nearly burst into tears because for me, I thought, wow, that guy's actually real.”
“he would drive me to piano lessons every week and that summed him up in a way because he was just always there.”
“I've taken that award not for any title, but to acknowledge my parents and their journey as immigrants, to honour both of them.”