Cultural Life: Madeleine Peyroux, singer

Music

I discovered this Malian artist, Rokia Traoré, when I was on 'Later with Jools Holland'. Her performance was stunning, and very powerful. Without understanding the Malian language, I was blown away.

Television

My favourite show of all time is 'Real Time' with Bill Maher on HBO. It has origins in his earlier show, 'Politically Incorrect', and basically has people, like Gore Vidal, talking about what is really going on.

Films

I often watch films, such as 'Wall-E', which is fantastic, on planes. I've also been watching a lot of Bergman movies.

Books

At the moment I'm revisiting Robert Frost, reading an anthology of his poems – he's always soothing to me.

Theatre & Opera

I saw 'Jerry Springer: The Opera', which the Americans didn't get, but was brilliant. It ran in New York for just two nights at Carnegie Hall. I also went to the tiny Théâtre De La Comédie Italienne in Paris and saw their repertoire show 'First Come First Served' which had the whole cast performing as animals.

The Madeleine Peyroux CD 'Bare Bones' is out now