I have much clearer memories of my time in Egypt: songs on the radio, the rhythms that accompanied belly dancers, the sound of the adhan - the Muslim call to prayer. I just soaked it all up.

On a very technical level, I am a geek who is interested in the intricacy of rhythm playing, so I like comparing and working out its details.

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.

Sometimes language is not enough.

One of my interests is to understand what constitutes the vibe of a place and what makes one concert different from another.

I am not scared of making mistakes.

I think entertainment is a perfectly noble occupation.

I think where you play is important.

I love communicating with people, and sometimes language is not enough. I think that's what poetry is, where you can mess with language and get through to things that can't be described or communicated through regular language or scientific processes.

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

I have a lot of experience in playing all sorts of venues. And one of my interests is to understand what constitutes the vibe of a place and what makes one concert different from another. You can't fully measure or calculate these things, yet they are absolutely evident once you're on stage.