I don't like the idea of 'classical crossover,' even if sometimes I see this category given to what I'm doing.
I feel today, with all the possibilities we have in our hands, all the new technology at our disposal, everything is becoming obvious. Nothing is surprising. You can see beautiful things on Instagram, but there is something that doesn't touch you deeply. Everything is normal, while there's nothing that grabs you and turns you upside down.
When I hear people who love my music and are trying to copy it, it sounds strange to me because it sounds so simple, made by other people. It took me a lot of years to find the balance, to find a way to be on the edge of being accessible but at the same time having the echo of a deep, more complex world.
You can learn and enrich yourself through the process of knowing a different musical culture.
With every musical project, I ended up feeling more enriched by the experience.
The Beatles, 'Revolver.' It's pop. It's classic. It's experimental. It's revolutionary.
On every new project, I try to write in a different way and see if there's a new side of myself I haven't explored.
'Uptown Funk' has all the ingredients of the funk that I love.
Now anybody can make music at home, and you can hear music on any computer without having to buy it. Everything is apparently better with all the machines we have now, but at the same time, the quality of life is not improving.
In Mali, you hear music everywhere. What is fantastic in Mali is the music tradition is handed down from father to son orally. It is not written. You learn from your father and add something, because you are living now and telling a story to others. This results in many different interpretations of the same song.
A great melodic line is like a person's soul, and coming up with an original melody, it can be like you are illustrating the soul.
It's very interesting to see how the music is used, as sometimes you have composed something with a very different intention, and then suddenly you see it connected to something different. For example, it was incredibly strong and beautiful the first time I saw 'This Is England' by Shane Meadows.
This is the beauty of popular music, that it is based on simple and memorable tunes.
Every time I start a new work, I try to be different and to start with a new perspective, so I search for a new idea, something which gives me a new way to access my creativity.
There should be no boundaries in your relationship with sound. Often it's not about the music itself but the context in which you hear the music. For instance, listening to a piece of classical music in a film you love often changes your perception of it entirely.
I express myself using my classical skills to write more complex forms of popular music.
I feel a vocabulary in my music that is coming from popular music. Popular music is like the mother of all languages.
In a soundtrack, you are in a way always relating with... a combination of different languages. It has to have the same path and same rhythm. Sometimes it's a polyphony of languages that have to work together in some way. With musical projects alone, you can be more free.
I love The Edge's guitar style; it is unique. There is an ancient world resonating in his guitar sound.
Doing the Five Tibetan Rites exercises every day - it makes me feel at home wherever I am.
