I don't want to copy the people I admire - I'd rather find out what inspired them and try to find my own way through it.

In Western classical music the idea of holiness, purity, perfection, and total beauty is expressed through clarity of sound - a bell-like sound. Obviously, that has its own place, and it's a beautiful way of doing it. But I don't think I am the first to point out that in Africa, the more buzzing the sound is, the more it indicates the other world - the spirit world.

I think the origins of music have probably to do with magic and transcendence as well.

I don't want to copy the people I admire - I'd rather find out what inspired them and try to find my own way through it.

Going to Morocco was massive; that's where I really found music which had the African syncopation and swing mixed with Arabic strains, and together they had this transporting, bittersweet quality.

Going to the Sahara Desert and meeting the Touareg band Tinariwen was a life-changing experience. All through that time, I have just carried on learning and meeting musicians, and I keep finding links between different forms.

In a lot of African instruments, you find a rattle, and sound engineers have a hard time making sense of it.