"It would be easier to jot down down what this man can't do rather than what he can"
The Guardian. London, England.
Nitin Sawhney is widely regarded as one of the most versatile creative talents alive today. Firmly established as a world-class producer, songwriter, DJ, multi-instrumentalist, orchestral composer and cultural pioneer, Sawhney has become a latter-day Renaisance man in the worlds of music, dance, theatre and film.
He grew up as an only Asian in an area of Britain which was a National Front stronghold. He was attacked and beaten up often, but found solace in music. He sums up the tremendous diversity in his music with the phrase 'from oppression comes expression'.
Sunset
After completing a law degree, he first found acclaim in writing radio and then television comedy. So vast is his output, I'm not even going to begin to try to write a bio of him or to catalogue his work. Here's a short bio on wiki. Suffice to say that he has worked with, written for, played with and remixed such diverse artists ranging from James Taylor, Paul McCartney, Sting and Sinead O'Connor through to Jeff Beck, Talvin Singh, Gilles Petersen, Natacha Atlas and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. He has scored over twenty five films, written music for theatre, opera, television & commercials, videogames, dance and for the international circus troupe, Cirque du Soleil.
A Throw of Dice (Prapancha Pash) AK07
His recorded output is a fascinating fusion of asian influenced trip-hop, nu-jazz and tasty electronic beats using guest vocalists with a global edge. Imagine Moby with a cultural heritage and an attitude. In many ways, he's Britain's Indian Manu Chao, but he is not so much a global magpie in the postmodern mould as an aspiring craftsman. He pays tribute to well-established traditional styles and genres rather than slapping and scratching them into a cacophonous collage.
Check out his full discography here and his website here
Some of this text culled from the All Music Guide and BBC Online.
Props to Fistula Spume for his post on Indian influenced techno
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The Search
This track really kicks in at about 1'45".
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Aquired Dreams
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Most excellent post cipher. I love Nitin Sawhney. My wife's British friends turned me onto him around '02. I love Sunrise. That whole album is great in general. Never saw the videos before. Good stuff. I haven't heard A Throw of Dice (Prapancha Pash) AK07. Excellent as well. You're right on about his blending of styles and making it flow. He's so smooth. He makes his experiments seem like he's not experimenting. And hey props to you for giving me props. This was a very well put together post.
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Not heard of him but I'm sure I've heard some of his music since he's scored movies, etc. Interesting stuff. Talk about a major talent.
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Fantastic information and sounds. Don't know why this cat hasn't been on my radar, but thanks very much for the turn on!
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Fantastic to see you resurface - another quality post. Thanks.
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Glad you all enjoyed.
As you can probably tell Nicki, I've got no homework this week...
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sorry for this telegramic comment, i am just unbelievably swamped with work. just wanted to say i have loved Nitin Sawhney for a very long time, and thank you for the nod. (: