Nitin Sawhney (; 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 and other worldwide influences with elements of

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics, and

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

. Sawhney is also active in the promotion of arts and cultural matters, is chair of the PRS Foundation, sits on the board of trustees of theatre company Complicité, and is a patron of numerous film festivals, venues, and educational institutions. In 2021, he was an ambassador for the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

. Sawhney has scored for and performed with orchestras, and collaborated with and written for

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

, Sting, the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

, Jacob Golden,

Anoushka Shankar Anoushka Hemangini Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer. She performs across multiple genres and styles—Indian classical, classical and contemporary, acoust ...

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Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977) is a Colombian singer-songwriter. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Latin Music", she has had a Cultural impact of Shakira, significant impact on the ...

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is an English singer, songwriter and actor. He came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest '' Pop Idol'', making him the first winner of the worldwide '' Ido ...

, Joss Stone,

Taio Cruz Adetayo Ayowale Onile-Ere (born 23 April 1980), known professionally as Jacob Taio Cruz ( ), is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, and record producer. Cruz was discovered in the mid-2000s by American record producer Tricky Stewart, joinin ...

, Ellie Goulding,

Horace Andy Horace Andy (born Horace Keith Hinds, 19 February 1951) is a Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as " Skylarking", as well as "Government Land", "Angel", "Spying Glass", and "Five Ma ...

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, Akram Khan,

Deepa Mehta Deepa Mehta, (; born 15 September 1950) is an Indian-born Canadian film director and screenwriter, best known for her Elements Trilogy, Fire (1996 film), ''Fire'' (1996), ''Earth (1998 film), Earth'' (1998), and ''Water (2005 film), Water'' (2 ...

Mira Nair Mira Nair (born 15 October 1957) is an Indian-American filmmaker based in New York City. Her production company is Mirabai Films. Among her films are '' Mississippi Masala'', '' The Namesake'', the Golden Lion–winning '' Monsoon Wedding'', ...

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

, Ojos de Brujo, Hélène Grimaud, Natacha Atlas, Jools Holland,

Jorja Smith Jorja Alice Smith (born 11 June 1997) is an English singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover of Labrinth's "Earthquake" to YouT ...

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

. Performing extensively around the world, Sawney has achieved an international reputation across multiple artistic mediums. Often appearing as Artist in Residence, Curator or Musical Director at international festivals, Sawhney contributes to musical education, having acted as patron of the British Government's Access-to-music programme, the East London Film festival and, currently, Artis as well as acting as a judge for The

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...

, BIFA, and a new role as Patron for the PRS Foundation. He is a recipient of seven honorary doctorates from British universities, is a fellow of LIPA and the Southbank University, an Associate of Sadler's Wells, and sits on the board for British theatre company Complicite. In 2017, Sawhney received the

Ivor Novello Ivor Novello (born David Ivor Davies; 15 January 1893 – 6 March 1951) was a Welsh actor, dramatist, singer and composer who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. He was born into a musical ...

Lifetime Achievement award. Having turned down an OBE in 2007, stating that it was associated with "a colonial past", Sawhney accepted a higher-grade CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours. He accepted it for his father, who he said had died regretting that Sawhney had rejected the OBE. Since 2014, the publishing interest of Nitin Sawhney's catalogue has been represented by Reservoir Media Management.

Early years

Nitin Sawhney was raised in

Rochester, Kent Rochester ( ) is a town in the unitary authority of Medway, in Kent, England. It is at the lowest bridging point of the River Medway, about east-southeast of London. The town forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Kent, Chatham, ...

, England, by first-generation British Indian parents. As a child he studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar,

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

and

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

. He has been quoted speaking about his early life as one of three brothers and his musical influences: "My mum and dad both listened to Indian classical music, but also flamenco, Cuban music, a lot of crooners and a lot of pop. My brothers listened to a lot of rock music. So, I was listening to everything from the Doors to Led Zeppelin and a lot of jazz." He is the cousin of

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

actress

Lara Dutta Lara Dutta Bhupathi ( Dutta; born 16 April 1978) is an Indian actress. She won the Miss Universe 2000, and has since predominantly worked in Hindi films and series. Dutta is a recipient of a Filmfare Awards, Filmfare Award and established hers ...

. He attended Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School. Subsequently, he studied law at Liverpool University for a short time. Sawhney moved to London, where he met up with old university friend Sanjeev Bhaskar; together they created the comedy team The Secret Asians. From 1996 to 1998, the pair were part of the award-winning

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

sketch show '' Goodness Gracious Me'' which transferred to BBC TV in 1998 to 2001. Refocusing on music, Sawhney's solo career began in 1993, when he released his debut album, ''Spirit Dance'', on his own label.

Solo career

Sawhney has released more than 20 studio albums. He has received 17 major national awards for his album work and is a recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award. In 1999, Sawhney released his fourth Gold-selling album, '' Beyond Skin'', on London's Outcaste Records, which took a prestigious

Mercury Music Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

nomination and won him the coveted South Bank Show Award. After a subsequent signing to

Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is an English business magnate who co-founded the Virgin Group in 1970, and controlled 5 companies remaining of once more than 400. Branson expressed his desire to become an entrepreneu ...

V2 Records V2 Records (or V2 Music and V2 Benelux; V2 being an abbreviation for Virgin 2) is a record label that was purchased by Universal Music Group in 2007, sold to PIAS in 2013 and partially acquired by Universal in 2022 (as part of larger PIAS 49% ...

, Sawhney released the Silver-certified ''Prophesy'' in 2001, winning a MOBO Award as well as a BBC Radio 3 Music Award. Sawhney's seventh album, ''Philtre'', was released in May 2005, taking yet another BBC Radio 3 Award, and in 2008, his eighth album, '' London Undersound'', released on

Cooking Vinyl Cooking Vinyl is a British independent record label, based in Acton, London, England. It was founded in 1986 by former manager and booking agent Martin Goldschmidt and his business partner Pete Lawrence. Goldschmidt remains the current owner an ...

, featured artwork by Antony Gormley and performances from

Imogen Heap Imogen Jennifer Jane Heap ( ; born 9 December 1977) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur. She is considered a pioneer in pop music, particularly electropop, and in music technology. While attending the ...

and Natty, among many others. Sawhney's 2011 studio work, ''Last Days of Meaning'', previewed at the

in May 2011, centres on a character from actor,

, and follows the metaphorical, Dickensian journey of a lonely and intransigent man. His 2013 box-set release ''One Zero'' was recorded live-to-vinyl as a celebration of ten albums releases. Nitin's tenth studio album, ''Dystopian Dream'', was released in November 2015, and his eleventh ''Immigrants'' came out in March 2021. His latest album IDENTITY was released in October 2023 with Warner Music. He produced Anoushka Shankar's 2013 Grammy nominated album ''Traces of You'', featuring

Norah Jones Norah Jones ( ; born Geethali Shankar; March 30, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She has won several awards for her music and, , has sold more than 53 million records worldwide. '' Billboard'' named her the top jazz artist of ...

, and also produced Jools Hollands' 2021 album ''Pianola. Piano & Friends''.

Music for film, television and video games

To date, Sawhney has scored more than sixty films, as well as many international TV programmes, ads and cinema trailers. He has written music for a wide variety of contexts, from dark, high-tension drama to light-hearted animatronics. Sawhney has been commissioned to write the scores for a number of different projects. His music for

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''Second Generation'' received a nomination for the

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

for Film and TV Composition. He has also scored ads for Nike and

Sephora Sephora is a French multinational retailer of personal care and beauty products, offering nearly 340 brands alongside its own private label, the Sephora Collection. Its product range includes cosmetics, skincare, fragrance, nail color, beauty t ...

. In 2006, Sawhney composed a new symphony to accompany

Franz Osten Franz Osten (23 December 1876 in Munich – 2 December 1956) was a Bavaria, Bavarian filmmaker who along with Himansu Rai was among the first retainers of Bombay Talkies. Osten partnered with Rai on a number of India's earliest blockbuster film ...

's 1929 silent film, '' A Throw of Dice'', which premiered with the

at the Barbican, London. Other notable works include scores for Oscar-nominated director

's adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's, '' The Namesake'', as well as ''Natural Fantasia'' and ''

Human Planet ''Human Planet'' is an 8-part British television documentary series. It was produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit, BBC Worldwide, BBC Cymru Wales, Discovery Channel and France Télévisions. The documentary describes ...

'' for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. His work for film and television has led Sawhney to gain recognition within the world of classical music. In 2001, Sawhney composed "Neural Circuits" for the Britten Sinfonia In 2002, he worked with Akram Khan and Anish Kapoor, scoring the music to Khan's choreographed work '' Kaash'', which toured worldwide between 2002 and 2003. In 2004, Sawhney was commissioned by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to compose a new piece for their Harmony Project. His previous scores also include the new adaptation of ''

Mahabharata The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; , , ) is one of the two major Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epics of ancient India revered as Smriti texts in Hinduism, the other being the ''Ramayana, Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the events and aftermath of the Kuru ...

'' by the Olivier Award- winning writer Stephen Clark,

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatre and opera director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Complicité, Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manch ...

's '' A Disappearing Number'' for Complicité, and first-time theatrical director Jonathan Holmes' ''Fallujah''. Sawhney has continued to work with Akram Khan on Bahok, Vertical Road and iTMOi (in the mind of Igor). Sawhney produced the music for the Ninja Theory video games '' Heavenly Sword'' and '' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'' (both starring Andy Serkis). Sawhney again worked with the

for the Network/BFI re-master of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

's '' The Lodger'', performed live at The Barbican Centre on 21 July 2012. Sawhney also scored Oscar-nominated director Deepa Mehta's adaptation of

Salman Rushdie Sir Ahmed Salman Rushdie ( ; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British and American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern wor ...

's book, ''

Midnight's Children ''Midnight's Children'' is the second novel by Indian-British writer Salman Rushdie, published by Jonathan Cape with cover design by Bill Botten, about India's transition from British colonial rule to independence and partition. It is a pos ...

'', released in October 2012 (US), and '' Vara: A Blessing'' and ''Japan in a Day''. Sawhney scored a five-episode series for the BBC's Natural History Department called '' Wonders of the Monsoon'', which had its debut airing with the BBC in 2014. With other broadcasters and with its DVD release it has been re-titled ''Lands of the Monsoon''. The series earned Sawhney a

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

award for best composer in February 2015. He subsequently scored Andy Serkis' (whom he has previously worked with) directorial debut '' Breathe'' (featuring Andrew Garfield and

Claire Foy Claire Elizabeth Foy (born 16 April 1984) is a British actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Netflix drama series ''The Crown (TV series), The Crown'' (2016–2023), for which List of awards and nominations r ...

), which went on general release in October 2017, and Serkis' interpretation of ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

'', titled '' Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle'', for

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

, released in November 2018. Sawhney scored the film '' What's Love Got to do with it?'', released in 2022, starring

Lily James Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson (born 5 April 1989), known professionally as Lily James, is an English actress. She studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and began her career in the British television series '' Just Wi ...

, Shazad Latif and

Emma Thompson Dame Emma Thompson (born 15 April 1959) is a British actress and screenwriter. Emma Thompson on screen and stage, Her work spans over four decades of screen and stage, and List of awards and nominations received by Emma Thompson, her accola ...

, written by Jemima Khan and directed by Shekhar Kapur.

Theatre and dance

Sawhney's album ''Dystopian Dream'' has been made into a full stage show with Sadler's Wells, co-devised with Honji Wang and Sébastien Ramirez, which premiered in Luxembourg on 29 September 2017. Sawhney's substantial theatre/dance credits include the scores for Complicite's Olivier Award-winning ''A Disappearing Number'' and Akram Khan's also Olivier Award-winning ''Zero Degrees'', for which Nitin received a New York Performance and Dance Award for best score. After scoring ''Bahok'' for the Royal Ballet of China, Sawhney's composition for Khan's ''Vertical Road'' received a best new work award in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Sawhney worked again with Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui on a production based on the life of Manga creator

Tezuka Osamu Tezuka (, born , ''Tezuka Osamu'', – 9 February 1989) was a Japanese manga artist, cartoonist and animator. Considered to be among the greatest and most influential cartoonists of all time, his prolific output, pioneering techniques an ...

and has worked with Akram Khan for ''iTMOi'' (in the mind of Igor) as part of the centenary ''Rites of Spring'' celebrations at Sadler's Wells. Sawhney directed and produced ''Indelible'', a multi-installation experience at Sadler's Wells, as part of their "NoBody" programme.

Acting, writing, directing, commentating

Sawhney's acting credits include the award-winning radio and BBC TV series, ''Goodness Gracious Me'', for which he received a Sony Award as performer and writer, Meera Syal's Radio 4 mini-series, ''Masala FM'' and ''Confluence'' with Akram Khan. As a fledgling theatrical director, his work to date includes ''Confluence'' for Sadler's Wells and directing/writing workshops at London's National Theatre for his play, ''Trust''. He has also written articles for UK broadsheets and appeared as a commentator on the BBC's ''Newsnight Review'', ''Newsnight'' and ''HardTalk''. ''Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe'' is Sawhney's

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

show. Its fourth series was broadcast in March 2015. Sawhney appeared as an industry expert in two series of the TV series '' Guitar Star'' for Sky Arts, as well as appearing in and working as music director on the Sky Arts series ''Tony Visconti's Unsigned Heroes'', which aired in 2017. Sawnhey served as executive producer of the 2022 documentary '' Hostile.''

Collaborations and remixes

Sawhney has remixed a wide variety of artists, including Sting, Natacha Atlas,

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (, ; born Pervez Fateh Ali Khan; 13 October 1948 – 16 August 1997), also known by his initials NFAK, was a Pakistani singer, songwriter, and music director. Khan was primarily a singer of qawwali, a form of Sufi devot ...

, Julian Lloyd Webber, Tina Grace and

(for McCartney's The Fireman project). He also collaborated with McCartney on a song called "My Soul", which appeared on Sawhney's '' London Undersound'' album, and on various Robert Miles projects such as Miles Gurtu and Organik as well as with American singer-songwriter Jacob Golden. His own work has been remixed by 4hero, Talvin Singh, MJ Cole and Quantic. He produced several songs on

Cheb Mami Mohamed Khelifati (; born 11 July 1966), better known by his stage name Cheb Mami (), is an Algerians, Algerian musician and singer-songwriter. He sings and speaks in Algerian Arabic and sometimes in Mashriqi Arabic, Eastern Arabic dialects or ...

's album ''Dellali''. He co-produced the second album from songwriter Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly entitled '' Searching for the Hows and Whys'' released through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

. During 2006–2007, he wrote the music for Akram Khan and Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui's dance piece ''Zero Degrees''; Antony Gormley created the set. He played keyboards on the 2022

single " Hey, Hey, Rise Up!". Sawhney had his own

series, ''Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe'', which was commissioned for three series. The series has seen him collaborate with the likes of Joss Stone, Bassekou Koyate, One Eskimo, Diana Yukawa and

David Arnold David Arnold (born 23 January 1962) is an English film composer whose credits include scoring five James Bond films (1997-2008), as well as ''Stargate'' (1994), ''Independence Day'' (1996), ''Godzilla'' (1998), '' Shaft'' (2000), '' 2 Fast 2 F ...

. Sawhney produced and co-wrote

's 2013 album '' Traces of You'', which featured

. He also co-produced an album by the semi-classical all female string quartet Bond.

Live

Sawhney is a

flamenco Flamenco () is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the Gitanos, gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and Region of Murcia, ...

guitarist and classical/jazz pianist. He works in the classical and pop communities, leading to his claim to broadcasting as artist in his own right for both the BBC Traditional and Electric Proms at London's

and Roundhouse respectively. His band has toured the world for decades and Sawhney has performed and scored in recent years with international orchestras to silent films, most notably

's ''The Lodger'', Franz Osten's ''A Throw of Dice'' and Naruse's ''Yogoto No Yume'', all for the

. Nitin has conducted both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Festival Orchestra and wrote his first choral piece for London Contemporary Voices Choir. In September 2014, he performed at London's Royal Albert Hall, where he showcased tracks from his tenth studio album, ''Dystopian Dream''. Sawhney musically directed a tribute to the rock musician Jack Bruce at London's Roundhouse in October 2015, and was also musical director for the show ''Tony Visconti: A Life in Music'' at London's Union Chapel in 2017. Sawhney, given his classical background, is an experienced and established DJ, mixing styles from

Afro-beat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex in ...

and

Dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...

to Asian breakbeat and drum 'n' bass. Performing at London's tastemaking Fabric nightclub, Sawhney has DJed at The Big Chill, Womad, Womadelaide and across the world at numerous major festivals. Clubland has seen three international DJ album releases by Sawhney; ''All Mixed Up – The Definitive Remix Collection''; '' Fabriclive 15'' and ''In the Mind of... Nitin Sawhney''.

Awards

1998 * EMMA Award for ''Displacing The Priest'' 2000 *Asian Pop Award for Best Mainstream Fusion Act for ''Beyond Skin'' *Technics Mercury Music Prize Nomination for album of the year for ''Beyond Skin'' *South Bank Award for Popular Music for ''Beyond Skin'' 2001 *

Asia Award for Music for ''Prophesy'' * MOBO Award for ''Prophesy'' *Boundary Crossing Award,

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

Music Awards for ''Prophesy'' 2002 *Media Personality of the Year nomination, RIMA Awards * EMMA Award for ''Prophesy'' *Muso Award for ''Prophesy'' 2003 * Commission for Racial Equality Award 2004 *

Nomination for Best

Film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for TV 2005 *Boundary Crossing Award,

Music Awards for ''Philtre'' 2006 *Honorary Graduate Degree from South Bank University, London *Laurence Olivier Award in Contemporary Dance (Zero Degrees – scored for Akram Khan) 2007 *Honorary degree of

Doctor of Music The Doctor of Music degree (DMus, DM, MusD or occasionally MusDoc) is a doctorate awarded on the basis of a substantial portfolio of compositions, musical performances, and/or scholarly publications on music. In some institutions, the award is a ...

from the

University of Kent The University of Kent (formerly the University of Kent at Canterbury, abbreviated as UKC) is a Collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom. The university was granted its roya ...

2008 *Companionship From the

Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts Liverpool is a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population of (in ), Liverpool is the administrative, cul ...

in recognition of his contribution to the world of art and entertainment. * UK Asian Music Awards – "Commitment to Scene" 2009 * UK Asian Music Awards – "Best Alternative Act" * Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Sussex The University of Sussex is a public university, public research university, research university located in Falmer, East Sussex, England. It lies mostly within the city boundaries of Brighton and Hove. Its large campus site is surrounded by the ...

* Honorary Doctorate from the University of Roehampton * Honorary Doctorate from the University of Staffordshire * "Best Music (Melhor Trilha Sonora)" Jury Award Nomination for '' Jean Charles'' (2009) 2011 * "Best Specialist Factual"

Nomination for ''

'' * "Best Original Video Game Score"

Nomination for '' Enslaved: Odyssey to the West'' (Ninja Theory) 2012 * "Outstanding Dance Production"

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moor ...

Nomination for ''Confluence'' (co-directed) * Honorary Doctorate from

Goldsmiths College Goldsmiths, University of London, formerly Goldsmiths College, University of London, is a Member institutions of the University of London, constituent research university of the University of London. It was originally founded in 1891 as The G ...

2015 * Winner of Royal Television Society's Composer Award for BBC's ''Wonders of the Monsoon'' 2017 * Recipient of the Ivor Novello's Lifetime Achievement Award 2019 * Recipient of the Outstanding Achievement in Music award at

The Asian Awards The Asian Awards is an annual award ceremony for the global British Asian, Asian community which takes place in the United Kingdom, with 14 categories that include business, philanthropy, entertainment, culture and sport. Nominees are selected by ...

. 2021 * Fellow of Global Music Charity - In Place of War * Honorary Doctorate of Arts Coventry University 2023 * Honorary Doctorate Huddersfield University 2024 * Patron PRS Foundation 2025 * Honorary Degree from The University of York

Additional information

Much of Sawhney's attention remains focused on the areas of education and community building, accepting the role of Artist in Residence for at least five performing arts organisations across Great Britain and Asia. Sawhney joined

Sir George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

as a patron of the national music college Access to Music, and he is also patron of the Raindance East Film Festival and the

British Independent Film Awards The British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) is an organisation that celebrates, supports, and promotes British independent cinema and film-making talent in the United Kingdom. Nominations for the annual awards ceremony are announced in early Nov ...

. He appears regularly as an arts and current affairs commentator on topical discussion and news programmes such as the

's ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'', '' Newsnight Review'', and '' HARDtalk''. He has also written for UK national broadsheet newspapers: ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', and ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

''. In June 2019, Sawhney was the guest on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

's ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...

''. His favourite choice was

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol, England, by Robert Del Naja, Robert "3D" Del Naja, Daddy G, Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, Tricky (musician), Adrian "Tricky" Thaws and Andrew Vowles, Andrew "Mushroom" ...

's remix of " Mustt Mustt" by

: his book choice was '' The Fabric of Reality'' by

David Deutsch David Elieser Deutsch ( ; ; born 18 May 1953) is a British physicist at the University of Oxford, often described as the "father of quantum computing". He is a visiting professor in the Department of Atomic and Laser Physics at the Centre for ...

. In March 2024, Sawhney disclosed that he underwent emergency surgery following a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. Sawhney was chosen to serve as a judge for the 2024 Booker Prize, alongside Edmund de Waal (chair), Sara Collins, and Justine Jordan.

Discography

Albums

Compilations

* ''Introducing Nitin Sawhney'' (1999) Outcaste * '' FabricLive.15'' (2004)

Fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

* ''All Mixed Up'' (2004) V2 * ''In the Mind of...'' (2007) District 6

Scores

References

External links

* – official site * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sawhney, Nitin 1964 births Living people 21st-century British male musicians 21st-century British composers Asian Underground musicians British Asian musicians British trip hop musicians Downtempo musicians English DJs English film score composers English male composers English male film score composers English people of Indian descent English record producers English television composers Musicians from Kent Nu jazz musicians People educated at Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School People from Rochester, Kent Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire