New Delhi, Popular Indian singer-composer Joi Barua has entered into an international collaboration aimed at merging NASA astrophysics with performing arts as he brings to life two pivotal songs that capture the wonder of the cosmos.
The collaboration will see two landmark launches – the US premiere of Cosmic Rhapsody at the Hollywood Bowl on July 27, 2027, presented with the Los Angeles Philharmonic featuring acclaimed pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet, followed by the orbital launch of NASA’s COSI mission from Cape Canaveral.
Barua says one of the most meaningful aspects of this project personally is the creative synergy with Samudra Kajal Saikia, an animator and a director behind the visuals, who also hails from Assam.
“It is essential to understand the collaborative architecture behind Cosmic Rhapsody. “My specific contribution was composing the melodies for two pivotal songs: ‘Star Among the Cosmic Clouds’ and ‘Confetti Storm’, and co-composing ‘Confetti Star-Ion’ with Manu Martin.
Barua, who has worked as a playback singer, vocal arranger and background singer in films like “Agent Vinod”, “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”, “DevD”, “Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.” and “Lage Raho Munna Bhai”, says in India, there is a deep cultural reverence for both the cosmos and music, alongside scientific achievement through ISRO. Barua has also sung the popular number “O Meri Laila” from the 2018 film “Laila Majnu”. In 2014, he composed a song for Shonali Bose’s film “Margarita with a Straw”. During a visit to the Space Sciences Laboratory, the creators discovered that Cosmic Rhapsody’s climax “Star Among the Cosmic Clouds” and “Confetti Storm” – a dying star exploding and showering stardust back to earth – shared profound scientific ground with NASA’s COSI mission, which investigates soft gamma rays to map how supernovae synthesize the chemical elements of life, according to Barua. The entire project was created by the visionary team of Susan Lim and Christina Teenz Tan, with Manu Martin serving as the chief composer, orchestrator, and arranger of the epic Cosmic Rhapsody orchestral work,” the Assam-born musician says. Working within this global creative framework has been an extraordinary journey,” Barua told PTI.
