b. 1964, Dulwich, London, England. One of the new wave of Asian acts to achieve mainstream acceptance in the UK music industry - following the pioneering work of Apache Indian, Kaliphz and Babylon Zoo - Nitin Sawhney has developed an eclectic mix of Indian music elements with the innovations and techniques of British jazz, dance music, R&B and rock styles. A Hindu Punjabi, Sawhney was born in England just a year after his parents relocated there from Delhi. Institutionalised racism made his childhood a difficult one but Sawhney has often cited these experiences as a formative influence in his development as an artist. As well as listening to traditional Indian music at home, he quickly adopted to a number of instruments, including piano and flamenco guitar. He then formed his first jazz group, the Jazztones, before graduating to playing guitar with the James Taylor Quartet in 1988. Afterwards he returned to traditional music by forming the Tihai Trio with percussionist Talvin Singh (later a collaborator with Bj”rk and Massive Attack).
By the early 90s Sawhney was spending much of his time recording music for film, television and theatre, and also released his debut solo album, Spirit Dance. This was recorded for World Circuit Records with the aid of an Arts Council grant following an extensive search for music industry backing. As was the case with the follow-up collection, Migration, the album combined Western instruments such as flamenco and jazz guitar with drum and bass loops, electronica and classically inspired Indian singing. Sawhney told the press, "The whole thing I'm trying to do is show there are no barriers, it's just about checking other cultures and finding where they meet up." For his second outing he moved to Outcaste Records, a division of PR agency Media Village. The album was then given widespread radio exposure by the patronage of Gilles Peterson on Kiss 100 FM and Jazz FM. One of its tracks, "Ranjha", was subsequently included on the high-profile Rebirth Of Cool compilation album. During this period Sawhney also worked with actor Sanjeev Bhaskar in the comedy double act the Secret Asians. Sawhney would later contribute to the script of Bhaskar's hit radio series, Goodness Gracious Me.
Sawhney's third album, 1996's ambitious spiritual concept set Displacing The Priest, was promoted by the successful club single, "In The Mind', and confirmed the growing audience for Sawhney's evocative Anglo-Indian hybrid. The follow-ups Beyond Skin and Prophesy, the latter his first for major label outlet V2 Records, confirmed Sawhney's reputation as one of the most interesting artists on the contemporary UK dance scene. The albums marked the first two instalments in a projected trilogy that was completed with the release of 2003"s Human. The delicate balancing act achieved between music and concept on the first two albums was stretched too far this time around, leading to a strangely disjointed and at times passionless air on what was lyrically Sawhney's most autobiographical record. The follow-up Philtre (2005) was inspired by Sawhney's return to active DJing and moved the artist towards a more club-orientated direction.
DISCOGRAPHY: Spirit Dance (Spirit Dance/World Circuit 1993)***, Migration (Outcaste 1994)***, Displacing The Priest (Outcaste 1996)****, Beyond Skin (Outcaste 1999)****, Prophesy (V2 2001)****, Human (V2 2003)***, Philtre (V2 2005)***.
COMPILATIONS: Fabriclive.15 (Fabric 2004)****, All Mixed Up (V2 2004)***, In The Mind Of Nitin Sawhney (District 6 2007)***.
VIDEOGRAPHY: Prophesy (V2 2002).

Encyclopedia of Popular Music
Copyright 2008 by Muze Inc.; all rights reserved.

Rainfall
by Nitin Sawhney