Junun

Junun is the debut collaborative album by composer Shye Ben Tzur, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood, and the Indian ensemble the Rajasthan Express. Released in 2015, the album was recorded in a makeshift studio within the 15th-century Mehrangarh Fort in Jodhpur, India. Radiohead’s longtime producer Nigel Godrich worked on the album. Junun (an alternate spelling of “junoon,” meaning “mania” or “the madness of love”) received widespread critical acclaim. The group also supported Radiohead’s 2018 Moon Shaped Pool tour, performing as Junun. The album features Ben Tzur’s compositions, which incorporate devotional Sufi qawwal musicians singing in Urdu and Hebrew. Jonny Greenwood contributed guitar, bass, keyboards, ondes Martenot, and programming, aiming to use chords sparingly and focusing on North Indian ragas. The recording process sought to capture the “roughness” of Indian music, avoiding the high fidelity often found in world music recordings.