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 initiative connects NASA's COSI (Compton Spectrometer and Imager) mission, led by principal investigator John Tomsick at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, with the global orchestral and multimedia project Cosmic Rhapsody.

Cosmic Rhapsody was created by the storytelling and songwriting duo of Susan Lim and Christina Teenz Tan, with French composer Manu Martin serving as the chief composer, orchestrator, and arranger for the entire orchestral work, says Assam-born Barua.

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.

"To contribute as an Indian composer to a project partnering with NASA's COSI mission is humbling. It sends a message to young dreamers across India: logic and imagination belong together. When you unite science and the performing arts, your canvas becomes the universe itself," he says.

Barua has also sung the popular number "O Meri Laila" (radio version) from the 2018 film "Laila Majnu". In 2014, he composed a song for Shonali Bose's film "Margarita with a Straw".

Conceived as an immersive performing arts experience combining live symphonic scoring, cinematic animation, and pop songs, the story of his new collaboration follows a fictional partnership between a human and an AI traveling into space to search for planetary solutions to earth's environmental crisis.

According to Barua, 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.

"… John Tomsick and the COSI team are launching a space telescope to trace soft gamma rays and map the exact stellar factories where elements like iron and aluminium are born. To know that our songs - born out of pure emotion and poetry - reflect the actual astrophysics of nucleosynthesis validated our entire collaboration," he says.

"It is essential to understand the collaborative architecture behind Cosmic Rhapsody. 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.

"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. Working within this global creative framework has been an extraordinary journey," Barua told PTI.

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.

"To have two artistes from Assam shaping the auditory and visual soul of a global, NASA-aligned project is truly special. While I was building melodic arcs to celebrate the exploding star, Samudra was translating those exact musical dynamics frame-by-frame into vivid, swirling colours of cosmic stardust. It's a wonderful cultural milestone for our home state on an international stage," Barua says.

Describing Lim as the driving lyrical and narrative force behind these songs, he says she explored a profound truth: a star must sacrifice its existence in a supernova for its elements to scatter and seed new worlds.

"That imagery of stardust raining down as celebratory confetti gave me an emotional launchpad. In my melodies, I didn't treat the explosion as a tragedy, but as a euphoric act of creation," he says.

Barua also calls collaboration with Martin on "Confetti Star-Ion" a "masterclass in musical fusion".

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"Martin created the sonic bridge that moves listeners from authentic mission control transmissions straight into an explosive symphonic pop climax, capturing the physical sensation of an ionized cosmic shockwave," he says.