Music Life

A very exciting show this week, featuring the best artists from west Asia and north Africa. Turkish singer and saz player Derya Yildirim from Grup Simsek chats to Yousra Mansour, Hasan Nakhleh and Merve Erdem about how they work in the studio, what their songs tell us about tradition, and their biggest inspirations in the development of their work.

Témé Tan welcomes Nick Hakim, Raquel Berrios and Ela Minus to discuss the purpose of the work they make, whether they imagine their albums as one piece or a playlist of songs, and the importance of travelling and meeting other creatives from around the world.

Rina Sawayama, Angel-Ho, Shamir, and Mykki Blanco talk about where they get the inspiration to create when they are not performing, trying to be original or not, and the role resistance plays in their music.

An absolutely fascinating discussion this week sees Nitin Sawhney welcome Norah Jones, Anoushka Shankar and Soumik Datta to discuss the differences between being a solo artist versus being part of a band, the importance of playing with heart over technique, and how collaborating and working with different musicians changes their sound.

Anoushka Shankar is a musician, composer and producer who began training on the sitar with her father, Ravi. She made her professional debut at the age of 13 and had made three classical solo records by the time she was twenty. She was also the first Indian musician to perform live at the Grammy Awards, and she has worked with the likes of M.I.A., Rodrigo y Gabriela, Gold Panda, Lenny Kravitz, Deva Premal, and Zakir Hussain.

A stellar collection of musicians and songwriters this week, and who better to lead the discussion than somebody who has sold in excess of 85 million records? Singer, songwriter, presenter, DJ, and Spice Girl Melanie C asks the group candid questions about creativity, including the importance of dynamics in a songwriting team, what is it that informs the sound they want to make, and the thing they really love about making music.

First up Nadia Rose, a rapper from South London who’s been writing bars and performing since her school days. She’s gone on to write for Rihanna and has won a MOBO Award for the music video to huge hit Skwod. She’s also Stormzy’s cousin. Rae Morris is a singer and songwriter who released her debut single aged 20. She’s since shared stages with Lianne La Havas, Bombay Bicycle Club and George Ezra, and has worked with Lucy Rose and Clean Bandit.

Singer, pianist and producer Reuben James started playing the piano from the age of three, so in terms of the percentages of a life spent in music he’s right at the top. In this episode of Music Life, he asks Izzy Bizu, Scribz Riley and Gracey about the best song they’ve written, what they would change if they could go back in time and alter a piece of work, and the thing that they erase the most during the writing process, be it a lyric, a subject, or a feeling.

Scribz Riley is a two-time Grammy-winning producer, songwriter and artist who’s worked with the likes of Khalid, J Hus, Normani and Yxng Bane. He was also handpicked by Marvel to contribute to the Black Panther soundtrack in collaboration with Kendrick Lamar.

South African musician and dancer Moonchild Sanelly is joined by Bryte, Cuppy, and Etuk Ubong. Together they discuss if there are there things they can’t say in their music, what sounds and lyrics are inspired by their environment, and how successful women are viewed in the male-dominated industry.

Sanelisiwe Twisha, better known as Moonchild Sanelly, is the ‘future ghetto punk’ star from South Africa, fusing experimental electronic, afro-punk, and edgy-pop with kwaito, hip-hop and jazz. She welcomes a group of musicians at the forefront of their respective genres. First up is Nigerian DJ, producer, and entrepreneur Cuppy. In August 2015, she set off on her first DJ tour, entitled Cuppy Takes Africa, in which she visited Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda and South Africa.

Experimental hip-hop artist Ishmael Butler hosts this edition of music life - he's a member of Shabazz Palaces, and was also part of Grammy-winning hip-hop pioneers Digable Planets. He’s also worked with the likes of Flying Lotus, Thundercat, and Animal Collective.

He’s joined by IAMDDB, a songwriter and vocalist based in Manchester, UK, who is very much the artist in demand right now. Her performance of the song ‘ause on the music platform Colors has been viewed more than 16 million times, and her 2019 album ‘Swervvvvv.5’ made her a household name in the international community. Bishop Nehru is a young rapper and producer from New York. He has made two albums with elusive rap poet MF Doom, and worked with Dizzy Wright, 9th Wonder and Kaytranada. And KeiyaA is a singer, songwriter and producer from Chicago, now based in New York. She’s previously worked as a session musician for Noname, Chance The Rapper, Vic Mensa, and Mick Jenkins, and released her debut album Forever, Ya Girl earlier this year.

Together the group discuss the chemistry in collaborations, first steps in the creative process, and if they’ve ever dreamt an idea.

This week, we’re celebrating artists that have close ties with the German city of Berlin.

Ellen Allien is a globally renowned DJ, electronic musician, producer and label boss based in Berlin. Her label, B-Pitch Control, has shaped the sound of the city over the last decade, and she’s constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s achievable with music and a dancefloor. Catnapp is an experiemental, self-taught electronic music artist and sound engineer from Buenos Aires, Argentina, who moved to Berlin in 2015. She recently appeared in the Netflix series Unorthodox, and in the future she wants to score music for sci-fi films. Mentrix is a Berlin-based vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and composer from Tehran, Iran. Her music blends her experiences of eastern and western culture, and she brings together electronic sounds with traditional Sufi instrumentation. And our host this week is Afrodeutsche, a Russian/British/Ghanaian composer, DJ, producer, and remix artist who’s performed and worked with the likes of Aphex Twin and former Music Life guest Marie Davidson.

A huge episode of Music Life this week sees one of the most versatile composers working today, Max Richter (Peaky Blinders, Black Mirror, Ad Astra, Mary Queen of Scots), ask renowned creators of music for film, TV and the stage how they got their starts in the music business, their creative processes, how they convey emotion through their work, and how it’s actually quite difficult to create something simple.