“We came because of you”: Nabihah Iqbal on her first classical commission

“It’s a step in the right direction to be in those spaces, to do the best work that you can; do the best performances, have a good working relationship with everyone you’re on tour with. Make the best out of it.”

Nabihah Iqbal

British-Pakistani musician and composer Nabihah Iqbal has made her prolific work rate look effortless with a resume as varied as her musical output. With a strong reputation in London’s electronic and alternative music circuits, her 2023 album DREAMER garnered huge critical acclaim internationally; she has toured around the world extensively, with highlights including Glastonbury Festival 2024, Sydney Festival 2024, and the K11 Art Institute in Shanghai, alongside performances at the Royal Albert Hall, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Barbican Centre, The Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Serpentine. Nabihah is one of the longest-running residents on iconic London radio station NTS, as well as a frequent host across the BBC; she also runs platform and event series Glory To Sound, which takes on various forms such as live performances, talks and discussions, and club nights.

In March 2025, Nabihah was commissioned by the Manchester Collective to write her first classical composition, ‘What Psyche Felt’ — which was premiered as part of the collective’s SERENITY 2.0 tour. Based on the Ben Nobuto work of the same name, the tour brought music by Ben Nobuto, Bryce Dessner, Dobrinka Tabakova, Sebastian Gainsborough, Eric Prydz, and Nabihah to sold-out audiences in Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Nottingham, and London.

Following the world premiere of ‘What Psyche Felt’, we caught up with Nabihah over Zoom to discuss collaborating with Manchester Collective, classical composition as a new medium, Thomas Hardy, SOPHIE, appreciating nature, and representation…

Zyggy/PRXLUDES: Hi Nabihah! Thanks so much for joining me today. We’re chatting following the premiere of ‘What Psyche Felt’, your first classical commission performed by Manchester Collective last month on their SERENITY 2.0 tour. How did you first start working with Manchester Collective — did they get in touch with you?

Nabihah Iqbal: I honestly just got an email from them, and they were planning their new commissions. They were fans of my work, and they [asked if] I would ever be interested in doing a classical commission — and I said yes! I always love doing new things, and trying to push myself a bit out [of] the comfort zone. It’s good to always be trying new endeavours. So I agreed to do it, and I was really excited about it. The brief was just string quartet and electronics; apart from that, it was really free. I could do whatever I wanted.

I remember the first day where I was like “okay, I’m gonna start working on this commission” — and then I felt really quite overwhelmed. Because I realised this [was] the first time I’ve written music for instruments I don’t play. And bowed string instruments are such a nuanced sound… So I had to first teach myself a bit about all of those instruments. [I] listened to a lot of string quartet music. Not that I was going for that same vibe — I was listening to Mozart, and I was like “oh my goddddd, how did he think about those things”… -laughs-

I first started working on it at a music residency in Suffolk, at Snape Maltings. The first thing I did — after learning the ranges of each instrument — I sat down at the piano for ages, for initial ideas, and made recordings. I did that for a few days. I usually write music using Ableton, so then I went onto there; I was working with string quartet plugin sounds, the Native Instruments ones. If you’re trying to write for an acoustic instrument, then using synthesised sound versions of it is never gonna be the same — but it was the closest thing that I had.

Tell me a bit about the inspiration for ‘What Psyche Felt’ and where that came from?

The inspiration for the piece came from this poem by John Keats, called ‘I Stood Tip-Toe Upon a Little Hill’. The title, ‘What Psyche Felt’, is a phrase from that poem. The whole poem’s about how nature’s the biggest inspiration for all creatives; I found it really moving when I read it. Basically, my piece is appreciating Keats, appreciating nature. I was trying to convey the feelings I felt when I read the poem in the piece that I wrote.

This was your first time working with “classical” instruments. Tell me about your collaboration with Manchester Collective; were there any epiphanies that came out of the process?

Right before the Manchester Collective tour, I was on another tour — but there was a good serendipity, where my Manchester show with [my] other tour fit perfectly with their rehearsal times. The first time I met all of them, and heard them play the piece in real life, was in that rehearsal space in Manchester. It was the week before we started the tour. The first time I heard them play it, I was really blown away; it was the first time I was hearing actual musicians play my first composition! It was a special moment.

When I was composing, I focused all my energy on writing the string parts; and for electronics, I had the idea [of] doing live sound manipulation of them. It was a case of listening through with them, going through changes; once you hear actual people playing it, that gives me ideas, [and] gives them ideas. The second time they played it through, I started figuring out my effects. I was using two effects pedals: the Eventide H90, and the Space Echo — which is like a tape delay pedal. In my head, before I did it, I thought it’d be cool if it was just the acoustic sound; but then when I started adding it, it took the whole thing into a different dimension. It sounded so cool — I got really excited, because that was the first time I’d done live sound manipulation on other people playing instruments. I was like “damn, I should’ve done this before, that’s so interesting!”

Tell me a bit about your musical journey; how did you first start getting involved with music, and when did you first start making electronic music?

I always loved music, and played it growing up; messing around on guitar and trying to make my own stuff from there. But music production, and electronic music… The first time I ever did it was when I was 18, when I did this short course. I’m not sure if it still happens, but all the London University of the Arts colleges would do these summer courses for sixth formers. So that was the first time I ever tried it. [I] learned this programme called Cubase, which I never used again… -laughs- That was my first experience of how you can make music on a computer. Whilst I was at uni, me and my friends were all quite musical. We’d always be making music, teaching each other… I learned how to use Ableton from friends.

My first record, Mystic Places, came out in 2013; it was very electronic-heavy, chopped and screwed, slowed-down warped vocals, samples, and a lot of heavy synth sounds. I guess that was the starting point. My music is still synth-heavy; even though when I play with my band, it’s a live band, there’s still a heavy electronic element in it, and I think it will always be that way.

I [felt] weird about ever using my voice in my music; but it was one of my friends — the musician SOPHIE — she was the first person who said “you should try and use your voice”. She’d recorded my voice for her music at that time. This was probably around 2013, as well. And then [I started] thinking: well, guitar was my first favourite instrument, so maybe I should pick the guitar up again. It’s just gotten more and more since then, really. But now that I’ve done this string composition, I’m thinking I need to write string parts for my next album, as well. -laughs-

I get that — adding more elements to your musical vocabulary. I didn’t realise you recorded vocals for SOPHIE, as well!

Yeah! I just remember the conversation in SOPHIE’s studio about it. I still feel weird about my voice — I would never say I was a “singer” as my first thing. [But] SOPHIE was like “I need to record your voice…” It’s on two of the tracks that SOPHIE released — ‘Lemonade’ and ‘L.O.V.E.’ — that’s what basically started it. But she also helped me learn how to record vocals properly, how to mix them. Lots of learning and inspiration came out of that friendship.

There’s a number of quite prominent composers in our scene who cite SOPHIE as a direct influence on their style. So it feels like a quite pertinent full-circle thing that you’ve been commissioned by Manchester Collective…

Yeah, definitely! I know at least, with SOPHIE — we hung out so much. She’d always listen to classical [music], and she was really good at playing piano, as well, like Chopin; she was always blasting classical music in the car. -laughs- I guess with all of that music, you know, it’s kind of stood the test of time. Like if you read a book by Thomas Hardy, or Charles Dickens. There’s a reason why there’s certain art forms, or artists, that have lasted hundreds of years and stayed relevant, in whichever generation. That’s why I think there’s always something to appreciate — it’s for a reason, you know? The things that are happening now, you don’t know what’s gonna last [and] what’s not gonna last.

‘What Psyche Felt’ is very much inspired by nature — has the natural world always been a theme in your more album-focused work? I really loved your record DREAMER, that came out back in 2023…

I think it really started with my latest album. When I first started making DREAMER, I lost all my music in [a] studio burglary, and had to start again. I basically made most of the album in the countryside. I was not feeling so good in my head because of everything that happened in the music studio in London — I just felt like I couldn’t relax. I got an artist residency to go to Scotland, to this place called Cove Park. I went up there twice, and I went to Snape Maltings twice as well; and over those four residencies, made the whole record.

A lot of my inspiration comes from being in the city, and being in London; and that’s always gonna be the case, because I love London so much. But I started appreciating being in the countryside, and not having any distractions out there. When you’re in natural surroundings, you pay a lot more attention to nature. In the city, you don’t notice it, because every day is the same and every night is the same — you can’t really tell “oh, this night feels darker than last night”, or “the wind sounds different today”, because you’re not gonna hear those things in the city. But when I was in the countryside, and I was completely alone, [I] started picking up on all of those things.

Actually, at the same time, I was reading a lot of Thomas Hardy. The thing I love about Thomas Hardy is that he’ll have whole chapters where he describes a scene in the countryside, but in so much detail. The same with Keats, as well, whose whole entire bibliography is based on nature — what we can get from it as artists.

I just did a writing residency in the mountains in upstate New York — from December until February — working on new music. After you’ve been in the city, and you’ve done everything you need to do, it’s good to get out into the middle of nowhere, and just put your head down and work. I think I’ll have this approach from now on. It’ll be my dream to make my own music studio in the countryside somewhere; then I’ll have a place I can go to do my work, be immersed in it. Maybe one day.

Tell me a bit more about how you channel inspiration. You’ve spent a lot of time in the electronic and alternative music scenes around London; how much have these experiences manifested in your work?

Well, most of it is subconscious, to be honest. When I think of the electronic music scene in London, that I’ve grown up in… You know, I started going to gigs when I was about 13. At that time, I was really into punk music, alternative stuff; and when you get older, you start going to clubs — going to more electronic music-focused events — and realising that there’s so much more to gain in that setting, as well. From then onwards till now, I feel like everything that’s happened is all inspiration for me. I mean, I still go out loads — I have to, because I do music — but it’s not the same as when you go out when you’re 23. But all of those experiences [are] formative, and they’ll be on my mind forever.

There’s definitely songs on my latest album, DREAMER, that are really inspired by that era of life. Imagining a hot summer night in your early 20s, and going out all night with your friends. That’s all in there. But inspiration is always developing, as well. Even now, [in] the music scene in London, there’s so much going on; so many of my friends make amazing music, and so it’s good to go out [and] see what they’re doing when I’m not busy with gigs and touring. To go and experience music purely as an audience member, consumer… absorber. -laughs- Which feels rarer and rarer for me. I feel lucky to be from an amazing city like London, where there’s always something happening.

Working in what was a new medium for you — were there any particular similarities/differences you felt composing for this context, as opposed to for your albums or with your band?

The interesting thing is that when my friends came to the London show — I guess it was that show that had the crowd that were most familiar with my other music — something that a lot of people were saying was, it sounded like my music. There’s something in it. I wasn’t thinking about that consciously, because for me, it was such new territory going into this project, trying to write for strings. But my family and my friends were [saying], the chord progressions, the feeling, the textures, the sound, sound[ed] like the music that [I] make. I quite like that people picked up on that; and then I was thinking about it, and I was like “oh yeah, that makes sense, actually”. It’s nice that there’s some kind of sonic motif that’s running through my own music into this new world of classical composition, that people are picking up on. But when I was making the music, I was really thinking of that Keats poem — and how to convey the feelings, the emotions, paint [a] sonic picture that goes with the poem.

I really liked working with instruments where you can’t play a chord — it’s all individual notes. That was another really new thing for me. Normally, when I write music, I’ll start on keys or the guitar, where you can play chords straight away; whereas when you’re working with string quartet, each instrument — on a basic level — plays one note at a time. Together, those instruments create the chord; and within that space, there’s loads of possibilities about which person is gonna make the first step to take the music to the next place. That felt new and exciting for me — which I know to any classical composer, is probably the most basic thing — but for me, it was new! To be like “to make the chord, everyone needs to be involved”. I found that a really exciting way of working, thinking about that.

I think a lot of composers take for granted the way they gain that sort of knowledge — that their teachers tell them “oh, this instrument does this or that”. Whereas when you’re learning it organically, you can really think about the people involved in the process, rather than a kind of abstracted knowledge.

Yeah. Which is quite cool — because in that chord, you’ve got four different musicians, who play four instruments in their own way, and bring their own personality to it. Everyone’s needed. It feels like a very communal thing. It’s a good way of thinking about composing music. Normally with my own music, I make it all, I write it all, and then present it to the band and we all work out the live show.

It’s a different, maybe liberating feeling…

Writing something that I cannot play. -laughs- That is very different. It’s a liberating feeling, because then it opens up so many possibilities — once you manage to do it. Obviously, at the beginning, it felt like a daunting task, but once I got into it, you get into the flow and it’s fine.

But then also, being on tour with Manchester Collective — being part of this SERENITY 2.0 show, watching it up close every night, seeing them perform the other pieces — that in itself was a massive inspiration for me, as well. ‘What Psyche Felt’ was my first ever go at writing anything classical, anything for strings. When you see them play the other pieces — Ben Nobuto’s piece, or the opening piece which was so amazing [Bryce Dessner, ‘Aheym (Homeward)’] — that’s also a big learning process for me. I feel like I was trying to create an aesthetic; but it’s not an avant-garde classical sound where it’s pushing the boundaries of what the musicians and instruments can do. But then when you watch the other pieces… I asked to look at Ben Nobuto’s score, because I was like “how has he notated all these movements?” So then that opens up a lot of new possibilities in my mind — because then I’m thinking I would love to do more with string quartet, and other musical setups. Just realising that there’s so much you can do.

And also: it’s a privilege to be able to work with these musicians, who have all been playing these instruments since they were three years old — and they’re amazing. I thought the end of my piece was fast, but when I heard them play the other pieces, I was like “damn — that’s not fast at all, compared to what they can do!” So I guess next time round, I can try and make them sweat a bit more. -laughs-

I do feel like oftentimes, composers in the contemporary music space take it for granted. Isn’t this a huge privilege — to have musicians, who have been trained at their instruments since they were young kids, playing some notes you have written? I don’t think us composers appreciate that enough.

Yeah, because they’re so used to it. But I guess for me, I’m an outsider to that, so I was just asking a lot of questions — because I was so curious about how it all is in the classical world.

I love sport, and I love music, for the reason that there’s no shortcut. When you see someone who’s really good at what they do — whether it’s football or playing the violin — and you know that person has put in the hours to get to that level… It’s amazing. I play a bit of different instruments, but my dexterity level is nowhere near any of the musicians in Manchester Collective. It made me think I need to go to more classical concerts, as well; when you’re actually in the space, it’s very different to listening to a recording. I had that feeling the first time I went to watch ballet: when you see the movement of the bodies on the stage. Watching Rakhi Singh when she plays… her hands are moving so fast, without stopping for more than a minute. There’s nothing else that can replace that — seeing that in a physical space.

Did the experience of working with Manchester Collective change any preconceptions, or barriers, that you had about classical music — or working with classical musicians?

I think the biggest one that was broken was getting someone like me — who’s firstly not from a classical background, and secondly a female British-Pakistani person — to compose for string quartet. I don’t think there’s a lot of people that would be [in] the middle of the Venn diagram. I straddle a lot of different worlds, I’d say. Even in my own musical world [of] the alternative, electronic, indie-pop crossover — whatever you want to call it — there’s not a lot of people who come from a similar background to me doing that. There’s probably even less in the classical music world.

Obviously, the crowd at the London show was really mixed. At the regional shows, it was more “what you’d expect” to be at a classical concert… But I remember the Leeds show. There was this big crew of younger, ethnic kids — if you saw them walking down the street, you wouldn’t think that they were on their way to go and see a classical show — they came and spoke to me at the end, and they were like “we came because of you — we love your music, and we love your DJ sets, and we were so excited to see this.” This is a good barrier that’s being crossed; because if I wasn’t doing this piece, maybe they might not have come. People who follow my work can see “oh, Nabihah’s just [written] for strings — maybe I can do it as well.” Maybe I can inspire more people to try that. That could be one of the best things that comes out of it.

Of course. Do you feel like the alternative and electronic musical landscape you’re used to has become more accepting, or has more representation, than it did when you were starting out?

It’s moving in the right direction. I remember when I was doing my first NTS show in 2013, and when I first started DJing. There weren’t a lot of other ethnic female DJs, for example. But now there’s so many. General conversation around music, spaces, and identity, [are] opening up peoples’ minds to it.

There [are] still loads of scenarios where I’m the only brown person in the room. The tour I finished before the Manchester Collective one started — I was on tour with [an] American artist called Sharon Van Etten — we were playing these quite big venues all around Europe, sold out every night, and I still was the only brown person in the room. -laughs- And that’s a totally different musical world to the classical one!

There have certainly been some compositional experiences I’ve had where I’ve been made very aware I’m the only brown person in the room. -laughs-

If you are the only brown or black person somewhere, obviously you’ll notice it — you can’t not notice it. But it doesn’t have to feel like a negative thing, do you know what I mean? Like, even though I was usually the only ethnic person in those spaces, I still felt like it’s good I’ve been invited to be here — and perform my music in front of this crowd. Maybe it will encourage them to not have subconscious preconceptions. But I didn’t feel singled out or anything. I think there’s a lot of whiter musical worlds — but I feel like in general, the world’s moving in the right direction, where those spaces are changing. The best thing that can come out of it is that there’s more diversity moving forward.

What I’m trying to say is that even though I’m [often] in those kinds of spaces, I don’t feel it in a negative way. It feels good to be in those spaces — that itself is an achievement. It’s a step in the right direction to be in those spaces, to do the best work that you can; do the best performances, have a good working relationship with everyone you’re on tour with. Make the best out of it. When people see you on stage, when people see you’ve written this music, it will be inspiring to others.

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Learn more about Nabihah Iqbal and Manchester Collective:

• https://nabihahiqbal.com/
• https://manchestercollective.co.uk/

Check out Nabihah’s latest album, DREAMER, at:

• https://nabihahiqbal.bandcamp.com/album/dreamer
• https://ninjatune.net/release/nabihah-iqbal/dreamer

References/Links:

• John Keats – I stood tip-toe upon a little hill (1817)
• SOPHIE – ‘Lemonade’ (2014)
• SOPHIE – ‘L.O.V.E’ (2015)
• Ravi Ghosh, ‘Nabihah Iqbal: the London musician who got locked down in Pakistan’ (2020), The Guardian
• Ben Nobuto – ‘SERENITY 2.0’ (2021)
• Bryce Dessner – ‘Aheym (Homeward)’ (2009)