Tell us about your connection with Indian music…
I have to mention something that’s happened recently. I don’t want to get too sad but because I’m a rhythmist and rhythm vocalist who has been studying Konnakol, the art of vocal percussion from South India, specifically the Carnatic tradition, this is something that resonates deeply with me. Zakir Hussain passed away recently. I knew him. It’s an especially moving moment for the global musical community. I just want to take a moment to honour him and celebrate his soul journey. He inspired all of us. Throughout my journey, I’ve been following him. I’ve had the great privilege of knowing him. Having had that presence in my life felt like a portal into much of the Indian music community. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, as I’ve been so immersed in the musical side of things. But I did want to mention this. As for Bollywood, I’ve had very little exposure. Fateh is my debut. It’s something I’ve always wanted to explore. I’ve had close encounters with AR Rahman, of course, because of my musician colleagues who’ve collaborated with him. I haven’t had the chance to collaborate with him directly. But I’ve certainly been following his scores. The list would be too long if I started listing all the brilliant musicians I’ve worked with from India.
You’re the iconic voice from the Dune movies. How does it feel knowing that fans worldwide know your chant?
It’s such an honour and privilege to have even been part of such a monumental work of art, with Hans Zimmer and everyone involved in Denis Villeneuve’s film. It is so magnificent and wild. When I heard that people were grasping the meaning behind my expressions, I just felt so uplifted and proud. Not just because it has to do with my voice but more so because of the intention behind everything I do in music. I believe that music is an unbroken line of connection, positively raising frequencies through passion and love. Even though we have these characters we play in Hollywood or Bollywood, we are exploring and shape-shifting to support a character or a story. When I imagine people singing or having fun with some of the chants from Dune, like when people send me little video clips of people in parking lots, for example, singing the Dune chant, it means that it’s transcended. It’s a sacred expression that was meant to support the story and Hans’ music. But then you see people having fun with it and laughing, which is the most important thing: joy and uplifting the spirit. That’s the main concern for me and the reason I do what I do.
What’s a musical philosophy you’ve picked up from working with Hans Zimmer?
The thing that just popped into my soul is, first of all, the spirit of play. It’s something he talks about all the time. He encourages his musicians and collaborators that when we’re creating and collaborating on ideas, the spirit of play is so critical to expressing and finding the sound, or, in my case, the unique character sound, for the score. So, I would say that the spirit of play is an unbroken line to never, ever run out of inspiration, just like a child who can keep playing for hours with a toy or their imagination. We are simply capturing the openness and unbounded space that happens when you’re in that space of play. It’s hard to describe but I follow that energy into my musical expressions.
Your collaboration with Sonu Sood in Fateh is a crossover we didn’t see coming…
It was simple and beautiful. Sonu reached out to me, and we scheduled a video chat. There was an instant feeling of creative synergy. He started explaining the storyline of the movie and it clicked right away. I didn’t even think twice about jumping on board. It was just his energy. I could feel that I was in the presence of someone brilliant who was also looking at the craft from all angles. I felt an unspoken connection that we could do something here, even though this was our first collaboration. Hopefully, there’ll be many more projects we can continue to grow and utilise what I have to offer. Things move quickly in our world, and it certainly helps when you’re on the same wavelength. There’s that feeling in art or music, or that kind of cross-collaboration between music and film, where it starts to paint itself and you go into the zone. There’s that bit of back and forth of, “Do you think this works as a colour or the textures of the music?” And then the rest is history.
Fateh is Sonu’s directorial debut. What are some of the cues you got from him?
What I loved about working with Sonu is that, as a director, he led me into the emotion, the atmosphere, the pulse and the rhythm of the film or of an action-packed sequence. Often, in my work in Hollywood, the less I see, the more powerful it is for me to create something that never existed before. But Sonu’s creative genius was in guiding me there. That brings it into a much richer, emotional and subliminal space. In movies, that’s what engages the audience. They’re seeing one thing but they’re also feeling layers of a story that might be happening in the subplots. Of course, there are other moments in action films and that’s fine. But in this case, when you compose and use your voice, you become part of a character’s inner world—what’s going on in their thoughts or emotions. The story is being told beyond words. That’s the power of music to bridge dimensions.
How different is your approach to making music or scoring when it’s for a completely different industry?
Certainly, the technical aspect differs when you’re working on movies, as you’re mostly working with cues, as you mentioned earlier. You might first look into finding the character sound for a specific cue. Sometimes, I’m asked not just to do one but to represent one character suite or theme. It might be multiple cues and I could be used for many different moments in a film. It’s different from recording for someone’s album or creating music for audio without a picture. The technical side is different. But for me, number one is always musical empathy. Making music is like making contact with a language that is in a higher form because it transcends all boundaries of culture. It allows us to amplify emotion and the rhythms of life.
Lastly, what’s it like going viral?
That’s quite relevant to the theme of Fateh, which deals with cyber-crime issues. I know this is a strange reply. But I don’t do social media. I’m still invested in raising awareness about the dangers and problems with social media algorithms and the dark side of it. People are being exploited and brainwashed by information and led in the wrong direction. Coming to your question, not knowing I was going viral was actually a good thing because at the time, I was working on Dune 2 and needed to be a blank slate. When I start a new project, I meditate and clear my mind so that I can fully understand what the director is looking for. If I were aware of what’s happening in the world,
I would have to work to clear out the noise. Maybe my chant sounds like a warrior call and people want to know what it means. And suddenly it goes viral. All of my expressions are the purest love you can imagine. When I hear that it’s gone viral and people are making reels, it feels like I’ve won the biggest award.
See Also: Loire Cotler joins Sonu Sood’s directorial debut Fateh