Cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason: Obsession is a driver

John Wilson speaks to British cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason about
his obsession with music, adjusting to fame and how he’s faced
racist abuse.


While still a student, he performed to an audience of more than
one billion people at the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan
Markle, instantly becoming one of the most recognisable classical
performers in the world.


Now, still just 26 years old, he explains the unique joy of
performing with his family. Kanneh-Mason is one of seven
siblings, all are talented musicians and regularly play together.


Of Antiguan decent, he was the first black person to win BBC
Young Musician of the Year. He’s also used his profile to join
calls for dropping ‘Rule, Britannia!’ from the Last Night of the
Proms, explaining how difficult it is for someone whose ancestors
were enslaved to hear imperial songs sung with such
determination.


Thank you to the This Cultural Life team for helping to make this
programme. The Interview brings you conversations with people
shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews
from the BBC. You can listen on the BBC World Service, Mondays
and Wednesdays at 0700 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as
a podcast, out twice a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get
your podcasts.


Presenter: John Wilson Producers: Alex Loftus, Ben Cooper and
Edwina Pittman Editor: Nick Holland


Get in touch with us on email TheInterview@bbc.co.uk and use the
hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.


(Image: Sheku Kanneh-Mason. Photo by Ian West - WPA Pool/Getty
Images)