‘Cosmic Rhapsody’ was conceived by storytelling and songwriting duo Susan Lim and Christina Teenz Tan, with French composer Manu Martin serving as chief composer
Published : 16 Sep 2026, 01:43 PM
Popular Indian singer-composer Joi Barua has joined an international collaboration that brings together NASA astrophysics and the performing arts, helping translate the wonder of the cosmos into music through two pivotal songs.
The initiative links NASA’s COSI mission, led by principal investigator John Tomsick at the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, with the global orchestral and multimedia project “Cosmic Rhapsody”, Hindustan Times reports.
“Cosmic Rhapsody” was conceived by storytelling and songwriting duo Susan Lim and Christina Teenz Tan, with French composer Manu Martin serving as the chief composer, orchestrator and arranger of the entire orchestral work, says Assam-born Barua.
Barua, who has worked as a playback singer, vocal arranger and background singer on films including “Agent Vinod”, “Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara”, “DevD”, “Munna Bhai MBBS” and “Lage Raho Munna Bhai”, says India has a deep cultural reverence for both the cosmos and music, alongside a strong tradition of 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 also sang the popular song "O Meri Laila" from the 2018 film Laila Majnu. In 2014, he composed a song for Shonali Bose’s film “Margarita with a Straw”. The new collaboration is designed as an immersive performing arts experience that combines live symphonic music, cinematic animation and pop songs. Its story follows a fictional partnership between a human and an AI as they travel into space in search of solutions to Earth’s environmental crisis. According to Barua, during a visit to the Space Sciences Laboratory, the creators discovered that the climax of “Cosmic Rhapsody”, featuring "Star Among the Cosmic Clouds" and "Confetti Storm" — depicting a dying star exploding and scattering stardust back toward Earth — shares a strong scientific connection with NASA’s COSI mission.
The mission investigates soft gamma rays to map how supernovae produce the chemical elements essential to 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. Barua stressed the importance of recognising the broader creative team behind “Cosmic Rhapsody”. "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 is set to culminate in two landmark launches. The US premiere of “Cosmic Rhapsody” is scheduled for Jul 27, 2027, at the Hollywood Bowl, presented with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and featuring acclaimed pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet. This will be followed by the orbital launch of NASA’s COSI mission from Cape Canaveral. For Barua, one of the most meaningful aspects of the project has been his creative partnership with fellow Assam native Samudra Kajal Saikia, the animator and director responsible for the visuals. "To have two artists 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 the songs, Barua says she explored the idea that a star must sacrifice its existence in a supernova so that its elements can scatter and help 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 an euphoric act of creation," he says. Barua also describes his collaboration with Martin on "Confetti Star-Ion" as a "masterclass in musical fusion". "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 ionised cosmic shockwave," he says.
