Trying to write music that's sensitive to 400 years ago takes a bit of madness, as it's such a long stretch of time.

More and more, cultural groups are cross-pollinating, and we're getting much more interesting art as a result.

It's important that Oasis are rude about everybody and that they get drunk...Fair enough. It's nice, isn't it? But it's nothing to do with me. They came to see us in Manchester and they were very pleasant boys. Very nice. I'd like to see that as a quote. Oasis are very nice boys.

I was approached by Oxfam to go to Mali as their ambassador and get involved in their various initiatives out there. But I felt that was missing the point of using me, a musician

Music is something that should speak for itself, straight from the heart. It took me a long time to understand that.

I've always known I'm incredibly special. All my life. You know? It's not a big deal.

I'm an English songwriter/composer, working in Mandarin and trying to find something about Chinese culture that I really relate to and respect and feel some genuine emotions for - and it's quite hard, the pentatonic scale, and that, in a way, is why I think it works. Because I'm forced to limit myself to quite strict rules about what I did. Maybe that's how I avoided pastiche.