‘Wide-ranging and insightful’ - Guardian (pick of the week, January 2024)
A show for anyone who has ever listened to, played, improvised, written, or just enjoyed music and wanted to know more about these mysterious sounds. Are they 'auditory cheesecake' as cognitive scientist Steven Pinker claims, or actually a fundamental part of what has made us into modern humans?
With an enormous variety of guests ranging from well-known musicians, producers and industry figures through to those for whom music is central but who rarely have a voice, this show is unapologetically broad in scope.
In 'entertaining noises', Steve has musicians explain and demonstrate their instrument, giving fresh perspective on everything from the piano to modular synthesizers, via lesser-known folk instruments from around the world.
And in the flagship 'genre tombola' section, Steve is assigned a randomly-chosen genre from the list of 1334 music genres on Wikipedia, which he then goes away and researches, often talking to an expert in that music, before frequently attempting to make some music in that style... Whether he succeeds or not, there's lots of fascinating stuff to learn along the way!
As fun as it is thoughtful, this show aims to help you hear and appreciate music in new ways.
Two Korean string instruments, two very different ways of shaping a sound. Dal:um’s Ha Suyean and Hwang Hyeyoung join me after their concert in Finland to explore the gayageum and geomungo, from delicate silk-string sounds to surprisingly powerful, percussive playing.
We get close to the instruments: a bamboo playing stick, frets, pitch bends and movable bridges called “goose feet”. They explain how their modern instruments differ from traditional versions, and demonstrate a way of feeling Korean rhythm through breath and dance movement.
There’s music from the concert, demonstrations from both players, and a performance recorded especially for the conversation. The video edition lets you see how their hands shape the sounds.
Later, I share “Basildon Made Me Baby”, a collaboration with spoken-word artist Emy P, through a project with filmmaker and poet Aaron Shrimpton. My music takes a hip-hop direction, with a few nods to Basildon’s electropop heritage; Emy’s words explore place, identity and finding her people.
Plus: Sound / Visuals / Spoken at the Towngate Theatre on 12th November 2026, and Origin live with Beardyman at Wilton’s Music Hall on 10th March 2027.
IN THIS EPISODE
Dal:um in concert and conversation
Korean rhythm, breathing and dance
Inside the geomungo and gayageum
Silk strings, bamboo, frets and “goose feet”
A performance by the duo
Emy P, Basildon and a new spoken-word track
Live dates with Steve Pretty
WATCH / EXPLORE
Origin of the Pieces — video editions, transcripts and more
Never the Same Melody Twice with Akram Abdulfattah
Épisode 42
jeudi 24 septembre 2026 • Durée 48:15
How much can you change a melody before it becomes something else? Palestinian-American violinist and composer Akram Abdulfattah joins me to explore a tradition in which variation is part of learning the tune from the start.
Recorded at WOMEX in Finland in 2025, this conversation comes with plenty of violin demonstrations. Akram explains why a maqam is more than a scale, introduces the expressive possibilities between familiar notes, and shows how a phrase can take a different route each time it is played.
His six-string violin extends into an unusually low register. We hear what those extra strings make possible, how they change the physical experience of playing, and why the instrument can sound so close to a human voice. There is an original solo performance along the way.
We also talk about learning musical rules and finding freedom within them, Arabic roots and wider influences, and the pleasure of hearing a familiar melody change without losing its identity.
Towards the end, Akram reflects on music, family and his Palestinian-American identity, before we discuss the challenges of making a living as a musician and helping audiences discover something unfamiliar.
IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 – Welcome to Origin
00:26 – Introducing Akram Abdulfattah
02:33 – Live at WOMEX 2025
03:11 – Meet Akram
04:28 – Arabic roots, many influences
06:33 – Maqam: more than a scale
08:19 – Tarab and musical feeling
09:07 – The notes between the notes
10:29 – Hearing microtones on violin
16:49 – Tradition and improvisation
19:18 – Never the same melody twice
22:57 – A six-string violin
The Whole History of Music (More or Less)
Épisode 41
samedi 12 septembre 2026 • Durée 01:22:10
How do you tell the entire history of music?
If you're director and Cosmic Shambles co-founder Trent Burton, apparently you start with the Big Bang, interview more than 100 people around the world, and emerge four-and-a-half years later with a nine-part, 10.5-hour documentary.
This week I'm joined by Trent to talk about For the Record: An Incomplete History of Music, the enormous new series presented by Charlotte Ritchie, which travels from the origins of sound and the earliest music through notation, recording, jazz, rave culture, streaming and AI.
I've been deeply embedded in the project myself as music consultant and mix engineer, so this conversation quickly expands beyond the making of the documentary into some of the questions it raises.
How do you tell music history when music doesn't evolve in a straight line? What gets lost when oral traditions become notation — or performances become definitive recordings? And what happens to music when a machine can generate it on demand?
We get into live performance, improvisation, rave culture, cultural exchange and appropriation, active listening, the economics of grassroots live music, Robert Smith's battle with ticket pricing, and why a 10.5-hour independent music documentary may make more sense on YouTube than on broadcast television.
Midway through, there's some actual music too: an excerpt from Slack Tide, my piece for violinist Harriet Mackenzie and me, premiered at First Light Festival 2026 and based on the tidal cycle of the Suffolk coast.
IN THIS EPISODE
00:00 – Welcome back and introducing For the Record
02:30 – Trent Burton, Cosmic Shambles and how the project began
06:00 – How 90 minutes became nine episodes and 614 minutes
09:00 – The impossible problem of structuring music history
14:10 – Notation, oral traditions and writing music down
Voice, Power and the Big Machine: Opera Special
Épisode 40
dimanche 17 mai 2026 • Durée 01:21:18
This week, I’m joined by bass Barnaby Rea for a longer-than-usual opera special I mean if we're doing opera, we've gotta go long, right?!), recorded backstage at the Royal Opera House, London.
Barnaby is a British/Irish bass who trained at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the National Opera Studio. He was a Harewood Artist at English National Opera and a member of the Oper Frankfurt solo ensemble. He has also appeared with companies including the Royal Opera House, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Zurich Opera, Teatro Real, Opéra de Lyon, Scottish Opera and Opera North.
We recorded this while Barnaby was performing Doctor Grenvil in Verdi’s La traviata, in Richard Eyre’s long-running Royal Opera production.
This episode was also partly inspired by a recent visit to Milan and the extraordinary Teatro alla Scala, which got me thinking about opera not just as music, but as architecture, social ritual, commerce, class, spectacle and power.
So this is partly a conversation about opera singing, partly a look at the machinery of a major opera house, and partly an attempt to understand why opera can feel both thrillingly immediate and socially intimidating.
We talk about opera vs musical theatre, why singers train for so long, how a voice can fill a huge theatre without amplification, what “placement” and resonance mean, and why vibrato is not just decorative wobbling.
We also get into opera’s social context: boxes, gods, stalls, ticket prices, access, prestige, and whether opera’s elitist reputation is entirely fair.
There’s also a wider reflection on live music now: why huge arena shows can dominate the public story of the music industry while smaller venues, grassroots promoters, festivals and independent musicians are struggling.
A Cave, A Conch, An Algorithm
Épisode 39
mardi 17 mars 2026 • Durée 01:22:32
A collaboration with What We Did Beforeon the deep history of music, from prehistoric instruments and ritual to place, technology and AI.
A slightly different episode this time. Instead of the usual format, I’m sharing an interview I did for the excellent podcast What We Did Before. This particular episode, Before Music: Cave Rituals and Ancient Instruments | Steve Pretty explores where music may have come from, what it might have looked and sounded like before recorded history, and what those origins can still tell us now.
We get into prehistoric conch shells and bone flutes, the role of ritual, why location and environment matter to how music develops, and how some of those ancient questions suddenly loop back round when you start thinking about AI-generated music. In other words: caves, culture, creativity, and the usual big weird human questions.
In this episode, I’m dedicating the show to Nathaniel Dye — musician, music teacher, brass band obsessive, ultramarathon runner, and one of the most quietly extraordinary people I’ve met. We begin with Nat performing his song “Public Service Announcement” (recorded live at my Wilton’s Music Hall show in November 2024) — a funny, furious, razor-sharp call to take bowel cancer symptoms seriously.
Nat sadly died recently from complications related to bowel cancer. This episode is part tribute, part replay, part attempt to hold onto the actual substance of what he stood for: making things, teaching people, and choosing music — not as escapism, but as a meaningful way to use the time you’ve got.
You’ll also hear excerpts from my “Listen like a musician” series, and then a replay of my earlier interview with Nat (from Episode 10), where he talks about his diagnosis, his fundraising, his trombone marathon plans, and what music became for him after everything changed.
In this episode
Nat’s live performance of “Public Service Announcement”
Why he threw himself back into teaching and music-making after treatment
The story behind Bowel Cancer Bucket List and the fundraising work
A replay of our earlier chat: music, mortality, and doing the thing anyway
The episode outro: Nat’s music, accompanied by bass/tuba greats Guy Pratt and Theon Cross
What actually is musical time? In this episode, Steve kicks off 2026 with the first four days of his “12 Days of Listening” mini-series — all about pulse, groove, and how our brains latch onto patterns (sometimes to our advantage, sometimes not).
Then we jump to Wilton’s Music Hall (January 2025) for a live guest spot from Aluá Nascimento — Brazilian percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, and former STOMP cast member — starting with a trumpet + pandeiro duet on “Brazil” and expanding into body percussion, Afro-Brazilian rhythm traditions, and the wonderfully low-tech joy of making music out of whatever’s around.
Along the way, Aluá talks about growing up around capoeira, how culture and history shaped these sounds, and demonstrates instruments including berimbau (musical bow), caxixi (shaker), and pandeiro — with a bit of audience participation thrown in too.
In this episode
A practical listening upgrade: pulse vs rhythm (try it while walking)
“The pocket”: groove as micro-timing, not just the pattern
Why your brain is basically a pattern-hunting drummer
Shared time / entrainment: why humans sync up (and why it matters in music)
Live at Wilton’s: trumpet + pandeiro on “Brazil”
Aluá’s story: capoeira roots, Afro-Brazilian traditions, and the STOMP years
Instruments you’ll hear: body percussion, pandeiro, berimbau, caxixi (and more)
Find Aluá
Five Notes, Maisy Mouse and a Sacred Flute
Épisode 36
mardi 23 décembre 2025 • Durée 40:03
From a Colombian ritual flute heard backstage at Oslo Mela to a children’s TV theme tune played on a London school playground, this episode explores why pentatonic scales turn up everywhere — and why they feel so immediately playable, memorable, and emotionally direct. Along the way, Steve unpacks the thinking behind the theme tune he wrote for My Friend Maisy (also available on NOW), based on the books by Lucy Cousins, and how five carefully chosen notes can shape an entire musical world.
The episode takes a gentle detour into Colombian traditional music with a backstage conversation recorded in 2024 with El León Pardo of Mestizo Collective, exploring the gaita — a ritual wind instrument built around paired male and female voices, deep cultural symbolism, and tightly limited pitch material. That sound becomes a useful reference point for the episode’s main thread: how scales function less like theory and more like palettes of identity.
Back in TV land, Steve breaks down the Maisy theme in detail, showing how pentatonic scales sit at the heart of children’s musical toys, playground instruments, and early musical experiences — and why avoiding semitone clashes makes music feel instantly safe, inclusive, and playable. Using live demonstrations, playground recordings, and some creative repitching in Melodyne, the episode shows how tiny changes to a scale can completely transform a melody’s emotional character.
In this episode:
• A backstage conversation with León Pardo about the Colombian gaita, its ritual use, construction, and sound-world.
Mulatu Astatke, Ethio-jazz and Pentatonic Worlds
Épisode 35
vendredi 28 novembre 2025 • Durée 48:39
From Addis to the Barbican and back again, this episode dives into the sound-world shaped by Mulatu Astatke — the father of Ethio jazz. With Mulatu having recently completed his farewell tour, Steve goes back to a long, previously-unreleased interview he recorded with him during the making of Hackney Colliery Band’s Collaborations: Volume One. What emerges is a portrait of a true pioneer: a composer trained in London and at Berklee, a collaborator with Duke Ellington, and the architect of a style heard across film soundtracks, samples and stages worldwide.
Expect discussions of Ethio jazz’s roots in traditional modes and tribal instruments; a journey through pentatonic and diminished scales; and Mulatu’s deep reflections on African musical heritage and collaboration. There’s even a live extract of Derashe from HCB’s Barbican show — the tune he discusses in the interview.
In this episode:
• How Mulatu fused Ethiopian pentatonic traditions with jazz harmony and improvisation.
• Why some Ethiopian tribes use diminished (whole–half) scales, and how that changes the emotional palette.
• The story of Duke Ellington’s Jazz Ambassadors tour — and how Ellington ended up performing one of Mulatu’s arrangements in Addis.
• The embilta, washint and other Ethiopian wind instruments that parallel trumpets, trombones and baritone sax.
• The link between African “bush” instruments, mbira/“African piano” traditions, and Western harmonic thinking.
• A rare 2018 interview captured at Livingston Studios during the HCB/Mulatu recording sessions.
• A live performance of Derashe from the Barbican, featuring Hackney Colliery Band and Mulatu Astatke.
Also in this episode, Steve welcomes listeners from the New Scientist Podcast and explores the science–music crossover behind shell acoustics, underwater sound, and the physics of musical evolution. Plus a reminder that the new now includes full transcripts, an interactive world-map archive of every episode, and a growing library of extras.
Ciphers, Picks and the Art of the Jam
Épisode 34
jeudi 13 novembre 2025 • Durée 53:52
From the high lonesome sound of Appalachia to the flow of a Bronx cipher, this episode explores what happens when two traditions of storytelling and rhythm collide. Recorded at the WOMEX 2024 world-music gathering in Finland, Steve talks with Gangstagrass — the trailblazing American group fusing bluegrass instrumentation with hip-hop lyricism and beats.
Expect fiddles, banjo and beats; live sessions that blur the line between folk jam and freestyle; and a conversation about community, curiosity and the shared language of groove. There’s even a spontaneous rap about Origin of the Pieces and a bus-ride performance that somehow turned into a cipher on wheels.
In this episode:
How Gangstagrass blend banjo, fiddle and MCs without losing the soul of either style.
Why hip-hop ciphers and bluegrass picks are closer than you might think.
The jam session as a universal language — connecting folk musicians, rappers and improvisers worldwide.
How genre boundaries were drawn by history, and how artists can redraw them.
A stripped-back version of Do Better plus a freestyle that plugs their UK tour entirely in rhyme.
Gangstagrass UK Tour — November 2025
Also in this episode, Steve launches the new Origin of the Pieces website — featuring full transcripts, an interactive , the Darwin-trumpet T-shirt shop, and exclusive extras via .
Détails sur Steve Pretty On The Origin of the Pieces, podcast de Steve Pretty
• How male and female gaita flutes are paired, and what that reveals about musical identity.
• Why pentatonic scales appear in folk traditions, playground instruments, and children’s musical toys worldwide.
• A breakdown of the theme tune Steve wrote for My Friend Maisy, based on the books by Lucy Cousins.
• Why playground bells and boomwhackers are almost always pentatonic — and why that matters.
• A live experiment repitching the Maisy theme into an Ethiopian-inflected pentatonic.
• Why thinking of scales as identities or colour palettes can make musical listening feel less intimidating.
Also in this episode, Steve reflects on why many people drift away from music when theory becomes detached from sound — and why listening itself is a learnable, creative skill, whether or not you play an instrument.
Plus details of the upcoming Steve Pretty On the Origin of the Pieces live shows at Wilton’s Music Hall on 24th January, including the first ever Origin KIDS matinee at 2pm and the evening show at 7pm. Full details and tickets at originofthepieces.com/live.
🎧 Listen, rate and share to help more musically curious ears find the show.
And don’t miss the upcoming Wilton’s Music Hall shows on 24 January 2026, including the first ever Origin KIDS matinee and an evening performance featuring new guests and experiments in sound.
🎧 Listen, rate and share to help more musically curious ears find the show.
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