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Jonny Greenwood.Shin Katan<\/p>\nJonny Greenwood.Shin Katan<\/p>\n
Until not too long ago, Jonny Greenwood (Oxford, United Kingdom, 54 years old) was largely known for being the guitarist of Radiohead<\/a>. But the repertoire of the classically trained musician goes well beyond that role. He has composed pieces for the London Contemporary and BBC Concert Orchestras and, famously, the soundtrack for every Paul Thomas Anderson film since There Will Be Blood (2007). He has been nominated for three Oscars for best original soundtrack (most recently, this year for One Battle After Another<\/a>). Plus, he has recorded three albums with The Smile, another group he shares with Radiohead vocalist Thom Yorke, and that is rounded out by drummer Tom Skinner. He\u2019s collaborated on projects with artists from the Middle East, the Israeli singer-songwriter Dudu Tassa \u2014 controversially \u2014 as well as Shye Ben Tzur and The Rajasthan Express, a group of musicians spread throughout Israel and India, with whom he has made two albums. The first of these, Junun, was released in 2015 to critical success, and was accompanied by a documentary directed by Anderson himself. 11 years later, the same crew of musicians is back with Ranjha. The musician speaks with EL PA\u00cdS on a video call from his home in Oxford.<\/p>\n Question. What is most special to you about this album?<\/p>\n Answer. I just think it\u2019s quite unusual to be doing music that\u2019s so sincerely religious, devotional. These Indians are singing about their sincere belief and faith in the Sufi saints and and the divine, and singing about it with real passion and aggression, and it\u2019s beautiful. There aren\u2019t many bands making music about that subject in my background. Great bands, right? But they either sing about their alienation or fast cars and girls and drinking. I think lots of people visit India as tourists and come away with an impression of its music, but what\u2019s different about Shye, who was born in New York and grew up in Israel, is that he dedicated his life to Indian music. His conviction really impressed me, his dedication and passion for the music, and that he takes it so seriously and understands it so well.<\/p>\n Q. Radiohead took these musicians on tour as the group\u2019s opening act in 2017 and 2018. What was the fans\u2019 reaction?<\/p>\n A. They reacted really well. Their rhythms are so fascinating and the conviction and strength of their singing is very passionate. It\u2019s like seeing a funk band, you\u2019ve got the same sort of repetition, the same passionate frontman, the same kind of bass lines…<\/p>\n Q. You seem to have a very symbiotic relationship with Paul Thomas Anderson.<\/p>\n A. Well he\u2019s a very good friend, and he likes to joke around with me. He\u2019s also a big music fan. I love how he makes fun of me and at the same time, gets so excited about what I do. He\u2019s a very funny man, like his movies.<\/p>\n Q. What is your composition process like for him? Does it follow the same lines, or is it different every time?<\/p>\n A. Each project is different. I think the only similarity his movies share is that they are hilarious, yet take on very serious subjects. That\u2019s why the music has to be sincere, there\u2019s nothing ironic in it, it\u2019s not a joke.<\/p>\n Q. I imagine you receive a lot of offers to make soundtracks. What makes you accept or reject a project?<\/p>\n A. Well, composing music for a movie is a little bit like joining a band. You\u2019re in a band with the director, so it\u2019s about working out if they\u2019re the right person, you know, and if they have a similar sense of humor, and just sharing that passion. I suppose that what convinces me is the story and what you can do with the music, with the orchestras and the instruments. It\u2019s an incredible amount of work \u2014 at first you feel as if there are no limits, that\u2019s what makes it so fun.<\/p>\n Q. Your work is so prolific. What is your daily routine like?<\/p>\n A. I wake up thinking about something to try with the guitar or with a computer, I usually can\u2019t wait to start. It\u2019s a wasted day when I haven\u2019t had time to work on something new. Right now, I\u2019m playing the guitar a lot and trying to create a computer program that helps me to compose new music.<\/p>\n Q. Last November, Radiohead went on tour after not having played together for seven years. How did that feel and what was its true meaning?<\/p>\n A. It felt amazing. I just stood there listening to Thom singing, thinking \u2018What an amazing sound. What great songs.\u2019 We\u2019re very lucky we can still do it and people want to see it. There were some great shows, in Madrid they were particularly fun. We\u2019re very bad at forward planning as a band, and when we go on tour, we have to decide like a year and a half before the concerts begin, which is crazy. We\u2019re talking about how to do it again, but obviously nothing will happen for ages.<\/p>\n Q. Does that mean that there won\u2019t be a new album any time soon?<\/p>\n A. I have no idea. Thom\u2019s working on recording by himself, so he wants to finish that and then like I said, we don\u2019t plan ahead, so yeah, no one knows yet.<\/p>\n Q. Are you planning to go on tour with Shye and The Rajasthan Express?<\/p>\n A. We would love to, but it\u2019s so expensive getting eight or nine Indians to come to Europe. We have to wait and see if anybody\u2019s interested in the record. <\/p>\n Classical music tends to expose you more. I feel safer in a group. When I play with Radiohead, I feel like I am in the audience, listening to the band<\/p>\n Q. A year ago, the concerts you were going to do with Dudu Tassa in the United Kingdom were canceled after a boycott. The organization that promoted the campaign holds that, for example, the rejection of South African artists was fundamental to ending apartheid<\/a>. You expressed your disagreement at the time. Has your opinion changed since then?<\/p>\n A. [Long silence] I\u2019m a fan of lots of Israeli films and writers and musicians, and the music I make with Dudu is resurrecting songs that are older than most of the countries that are currently fighting each other. That\u2019s always going to be more important to me. There are bookshops in Madrid that are openly selling Amos Oz\u2019s novels<\/a> and he\u2019s Israeli. To me, cancelling music is the same as taking books off shelves.<\/p>\n Q. I know you are well aware of the situation there. [Greenwood has been married to Israeli visual artist Sharon Katan since 1995.] What is it like to experience what is happening right now in Palestine and Lebanon, from the perspective of the Israeli people?<\/p>\n A. David, I\u2019m not sure how that connects to me making a record with Indians in Oxford. <\/p>\n At this point, the BMG music label representative asks that the interview focus exclusively on music. The journalist is not allowed to ask the two questions he had prepared regarding Palestine, about how it felt for Greenwood to see British peers detained for having protested in support of the organization Palestine Action<\/a> and whether Radiohead had internal discussions on the subject.<\/p>\n Last October, the British newspaper Sunday Times published an interview with Radiohead \u2014 the last in which the group jointly addressed the conflict \u2014 in which Yorke said, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime.\u201d To which Greenwood responded, \u201cI would argue that the government is more likely to use a boycott and say, \u2018Everyone hates us \u2014 we should do exactly what we want.\u2019 Which is far more dangerous.\u201d In that same interview, the guitarist said he had attended protests in Tel Aviv\u2019s Hostages Square<\/a>. \u201cI have been to anti-government protests in Israel and you cannot move for all the \u2018Fuck [Minister of National Security Itamar] Ben-Gvir<\/a>\u2019 stickers. I spend a lot of time there with family and cannot just say, \u2018I\u2019m not making music with you fuckers because of the [Israeli] government.\u2019 It makes no sense to me. I have no loyalty \u2014 or respect, obviously \u2014 to their government, but I have both for the artists born there.\u201d<\/p>\n Q. Does it make you more nervous to play in classical music venues or on rock stages at music festivals?<\/p>\n A. Classical music tends to expose you more. I feel safer in a group. When I play with Radiohead, I feel like I am in the audience, listening to the band. But if I\u2019m in an auditorium playing a Steve Reich piece on the guitar, I am the band playing for the public.<\/p>\n Recording is a constant development, an exploration that goes deeper and deeper. Jonny always wants to go somewhere else<\/p>\n Shye Ben Tzur<\/p>\n Q. When you make music, what are you trying to avoid?<\/p>\n A. Boredom, needless repetition. And it\u2019s tough, because you want the next note on the next chord to be a surprise, but it\u2019s also got to be right, satisfying, and not be a clich\u00e9. You\u2019ve got to find the middle ground between these three points. Some songs, you hear the first two chords and you know the next four chords, and that I find depressing. But sometimes, you hear music that\u2019s just so random and alarming that it\u2019s exhausting and it makes you tired, because it\u2019s just about the next chord or the next note each time.<\/p>\n Q. Is it harder to compose classical music or a rock song?<\/p>\n A. It\u2019s so different, because classical music is all on paper and you work on it for six months or longer and then it\u2019s all over in one hour, you hear it once and that\u2019s it. You can\u2019t really tell if it\u2019s going to work until you hear it, and by then it\u2019s too late. Someone once told me it\u2019s like a firework display; you spend ages setting it up, days and days, and then it\u2019s all over in five minutes. With rock music, you know what it\u2019s going to sound like from the beginning, but with classical music, you have to hear it in your head and it\u2019s quite different.<\/p>\n Q. Who are your musical heroes?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/CUJWB7JDS5DJNN74LS6GKN4RZ4.jpg\")
Musician Shye Ben Tzur.Shin Katan<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TOC5VH3TRZFADB4ZCCKNKSEQPU.jpeg\")
Jonny Greenwood, Shye Ben Tzur and musicians from the group The Rajasthan Express.Shin Katan<\/p>\n