» Nitin Sawhney: Universal sound
Musician Nitin Sawhney talks to Andy Morton
Though one might be excused for unfamiliarity with Nitin Sawhney’s name – the singles chart has never been his domain – he has been a prolific presence within British popular music for nearly two decades. He’s very much a musician for his times, undeniably contemporary, nonetheless drawing assuredly on various musical traditions to create works of depth and freshness. He’s also recognised for his commitments to education, cultural awareness and community building, as attested by his patronage of numerous arts organisations, including Access-To-Music and the Raindance Film Festival; frequent commentary via TV discussion shows such as Newsnight and HardTalk, and a slew of honorary degrees. An erudite conversationalist – referencing Planck and Schrödinger by way of inspiration – he speaks with the same thoughtfulness and quiet conviction which infuses albums such as the Mercury-nominated Beyond Skin and last year’s London Underground. The latter draws inspiration from dynamic shifts in city life in the wake of 7/7. Whilst not a ‘concept album’ in the strict sense, it bristles with ideas; songs flowing together, creating a narrative thread and leading listeners on an emotional journey.
Tell me about your early musical influences – how do you pull together so many disparate threads?
Miles Davis was a particular influence, Ravi Shankar; film composers like Bernard Herrmann and Ennio Morricone, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan – his voice is used in so many different ways. People have said I do ‘fusion’ music but really I’ve never seen separation, just variety and diversity. For instance, I was DJing at Fabric and a load of people came along who had seen me play a few days before with the Britten Symphonia – I thought it was really cool they were able to get something out of both events. Music is like a glue, a universal language of emotions Johannes Kepler (physicist) came up with the idea that each planet has its own resonant frequency, and it was discovered that those frequencies coincided with the harmonic series… so music already exists without us! And to me personally it’s a kind of passport. Playing music has allowed me to travel the world and connect with people in lots of different ways.
“Music is like a glue, a universal language of emotions”
Your work is very much collaborative. When you sit down to write songs do you have a particular artist in mind?
It varies. There’s an artist called Kelly Golding I’m working with. I heard her voice and thought ‘she sounds fantastic’ so I wrote a song for her which worked well but it depends what I’m doing. Anthony Gormley contributed his artwork for London Underground because he really enjoyed the album which I thought was pretty cool. I love working with visuals – theatre, film and dance – so it didn’t feel unnatural to work with a sculptor. It felt quite symbiotic, talking about the drawings he came up with and their connection to the music.
You’ve received much critical acclaim, from the BBC, MOBO, and CRE amongst others. Any awards you’re particular proud of?
I don’t do anything for awards. It’s nice to see that people enjoy it, that’s really cool, but my biggest reward is doing something I’m really proud of, which normally happens in a room on my own or with other musicians.
So it’s all about the art?
One extreme is all about pure catharsis and at the other extreme there’s pop music where you’re communicating with people but perhaps the art has been sacrificed. I’m into the idea that you make sure the work you do is cathartic and keeps that artistic integrity of expression but you’re open to sharing it with other people as opposed to bastardising it to appeal to the biggest number of people. So the art in itself is important but with a view that at some point you’re going to let other people hear it so you don’t end up your own arse.
Like prog rock?
Well I was watching Rick Wakeman on YouTube the other day, doing one of his piano solos and in some ways it seems quite naïve now but at the time he was pushing boundaries with his experience of classical music. And Genesis found amazing ways of getting across stories, musical narratives; quite epic ideas. All those bands were quite exciting at the time – Frank Zappa certainly – until punk burst the bubble. One week Sounds and NME were all over… Genesis for example, and next week it was punk.
Punk brought something new to pop music, though. Change is healthy, isn’t it?
It is – things evolve in lots of ways. And now with YouTube and so on, it’s easy to access a lot of diversity. In one way the music industry is struggling but we’ve got more access to music than we’ve ever had. It’s a double-edged sword, really – it’ll be interesting to see what comes out of it.
Nitin Sawhney will be a special guest, along with writer and broadcaster Bonnie Greer, at The Space, Brighton’s unique monthly arts and media event – Latest Music Bar, Manchester Street, Brighton, Tuesday 2 June, 7pm for 7:30pm start, £5/£3. www.thespace.me.uk
