Many world musicians have been involved in this unfolding project, particularly drawn to the focus on children and their dreams. All of the musicians have been touched by what we are doing and have been generous with their time, talent and creativity. We all enjoyed producing high-quality music for the children and had a great time making it.

The album Songs from Nanditaʼs Dream is an exhilarating fusion of Western and world music featuring Black Umfolosi, Sheema Mukherjee, Sura Susso, Tommy Blaize and other gifted musicians. Many children are singing with them as the Rainbow Children’s Choir. The songs tell the story of Nanditaʼs adventures and interweave with the story to create a multilayered, multitextured experience.

On this page we introduce some of the musicians, who talk about their experience of working on the album and tell us more about themselves and their work around the world.

Black Umfolosi talk about recording/creating together on Nanditaʼs Dream, about their vision for harmony through singing and about their childrenʼs music centre in Zimbabwe. Black Umfolosi are an internationally acclaimed group of singers famed for their gorgeous harmonies. Their performing arts group specialises in acappella singing and traditional African dance. The group have been part of the recordings since the beginning and are great supporters of the Nandita’s Dream project, since working with children is dear to their hearts. Black Umfolosi have established the Enkundleni Centre for the Arts in Bulawayo, where young groups and individuals can receive training in many fields. www.blackumfolosimusic.com

Sheema Mukherjee talks about playing the sitar, creating a fusion of Eastern and Western music and being Indian Asian in the UK.

Recently she’s been writing for the Olympics, and Lush have named a perfume after her track ‘Sikkim Girls’.

And of course she shares her first name with Nandita’s mother. www.sheemamukherjee.co.uk

Sura Susso Watch out for the interview in which Sura Susso talks about being a Gambian griot, born into a family with a long tradition of music for the spirit, healing and storytelling.

He also tells us what it’s like playing the kora (an African harp) with traditional African and Western musicians and what he enjoyed about making the album.www.surasusso.com

Julian Marshall contributed to arrangements and production on some of the songs and added his wonderful keyboards.

The range of Julian’s musical ability is vast. His modern classical works are The Angel in the Forest and Out of the Darkness and he also co-wrote the pop classic ‘Dancing in the City’.
www.londonsongcompany.com/team

Volker Kaczinski has been part of the project from the beginning. He is the sound engineer at the Music Pool sound studio in Germany and is a musician with many albums to his name. His recordings on this album and consistent loving support of the project have been invaluable. www.volker-kaczinski.net

Tommy Blaize’s rich voice and impressive range used to great effect. He’s a regular main vocalist on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing and was delighted to sing on an album for children. www.bbc.co.uk/strictlycomedancing/2008/about/singers.shtml

Philip Bagenal of Eastcote Studios in London is a passionate mixing engineer who took this project to his heart and has done wonderful work blending the album into a whole. www.eastcotestudios.co.uk

Simon Heyworth and Andy Miles are the mastering engineers who meticulously brought out the depth of field and richness in the material and prepared it for uploading and album release. www.superaudiomastering.com

Ben Burrow gave us fabulous, imaginative percussion on many tracks.

Martin Ditcham gave us joyful, fast drumkit. www.martinditcham.com

Lawrence Kelson contributes percussion to the album and website.
He’s providing inspiration, drumming and recording on Joe’s drumming page under Making Music. www.madrum.com

Rick Stokes and Peter Bernard gave us lyrical, playful guitars.

Paul Armfield gave us great double bass and guitar. You can find out more about his work (and the fabulous Four Good Reasons) at www.paularmfield.com

Drum and Rob Waite of Humdrum studio Rob is a gifted sound engineer who has contributed both engineering and guitars on some tracks. Drum has similarly recorded for both the album and the website and is beloved by the children.

Chris Glassfield’s beautiful meditational guitar music can be found on our meditation downloads ‘Tess talks trees’ and ‘Listening to my heart’.www.symbiosis-music.com/chris_glassfield.html

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