''Beyond Skin'' is an album by English musician
Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian an ...
. It was released on the Outcaste label in 1999. The album focuses largely on the theme of nuclear weapons; Sawhney states in the booklet that the album "has a timespan that runs backwards", beginning at "Broken Skin" with the India-Pakistan nuclear situation and ending at "Beyond Skin" with
Robert Oppenheimer
J. Robert Oppenheimer (; April 22, 1904 – February 18, 1967) was an American theoretical physicist. A professor of physics at the University of California, Berkeley, Oppenheimer was the wartime head of the Los Alamos Laboratory and is often ...
quoting the
Bhagavad Gita – "Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds".
Sawhney also aims to question what constitutes one's identity – he writes in the liner notes for the album: "I believe in Hindu philosophy. I am not religious. I am a pacifist. I am a British Asian. My identity and my history are defined only by myself – beyond politics, beyond nationality, beyond religion, and Beyond Skin."
Reception
''Beyond Skin'' was included in the book ''
1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die''.
Track listing
# "Broken Skin" (Sanchita Farruque,
Nitin Sawhney
Nitin Sawhney , D.Mus (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian an ...
) – 4:05
# "Letting Go" (C. S. Gray, Sawhney) – 4:49
# "Homelands" (
Nina Miranda
Nina Miranda is a Brazilian-born English singer and songwriter who was a member of English bands Smoke City, Shrift and Zeep.
Life and career
Miranda was born in Brasília, Distrito Federal. Her mother is the English Liz Thompson-Miranda; ...
, Sawhney) – 6:00
# "The Pilgrim" (Sawhney,
Spek
Hussain Yoosuf, better known by his stage name Spek, is a Canadian hip hop musician. He is best known for his singles "Smell the Coffee" and "I'm a Hippie". He is a former member of the Canadian hip hop pioneers, Dream Warriors, and, more recent ...
) – 4:29
# "Tides" (Sawhney) – 5:06
# "Nadia" (Sawhney) – 5:05
# "Immigrant" (Sawhney) – 6:21
# "Serpents" (Sawhney) – 6:17
# "Anthem Without Nation" (Sawhney) – 5:48
# "Nostalgia" (Sawhney) – 3:41
# "The Conference" (Sawhney) – 2:53
# "Beyond Skin" (Sawhney) – 3:48
Charts
References
1999 albums
Nitin Sawhney albums
Outcaste Records albums
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