Multi-award-winning musician and composer Nitin Sawhney CBE returns to Australia for a series of concerts to celebrate 20 years since his seminal album, 'Beyond Skin’, was released.
Sawhney has had a rich and varied career since the album’s 1999 release, working across music, film, television, theatre and dance as a producer and composer, and he was the recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
You’re headed to Australia to celebrate the 20th anniversary of your ‘Beyond Skin’ album; what can audiences expect from these shows?
We will have some wonderful musicians onstage and we will be playing music from my entire back catalogue as well as many tracks from ‘Beyond Skin’.
Obviously, a lot of time has passed since you created the record; but the themes explored by ‘Beyond Skin’ still seem as relevant as ever – does that disappoint you that as a race, we continue to circle around the same topics without actually finding common ground?
I do find it frustrating that we don’t seem to have moved very far either in the UK or the west as a whole.
I feel quite strongly that Brexit in the UK and Trump in America have been instrumental in creating an atmosphere that has led to an increase in racism and bigotry worldwide. I don’t think the issues of nationality, race and religion that were problematic when I created the album have gone away. Perhaps they never will. Identity should be down to individuals not systems designed to exploit insecurity.
You’re known as a world-class producer, songwriter and composer; you’re a DJ as well as a multi-instrumentalist – so many strings to your ‘artistic bow’. For newcomers to your music, how would you describe your artistic output?
For me, music has always been about working with many different mediums. What is interesting is you can put music to absolutely anything, whether it’s film, television, theatre, dance, video games or animation. Music always works with any context and music is a passport to possibility.
You were awarded the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017; how does one process receiving such an honour?
I feel that getting the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement Award was probably my greatest honour, although I have been fortunate in receiving six honorary doctorates and a few university fellowships as well as the recent CBE that I was given this year. It is always an honour to be recognised for my work and I have been fortunate in receiving probably more than my fair share of recognition.
Your roles behind the scenes are also mammoth; from being a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and BAFTA, to serving as member of an appointed advisory committee to the UK government on national musical education policy, to serving as trustee on numerous boards including London’s Somerset House and the Whitechapel Art Gallery. How do you maintain such an active role?
I am in a very fortunate position of being able to help other people and by taking prominent roles with wonderful organisations like the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and BAFTA, as well as the other institutions you’ve mentioned, I feel I am better positioned to help other artists.
You’ve collaborated with a who’s who of industry (Paul McCartney, Sting, Norah Jones, Nelson Mandela to name just a few); is there a particular collaboration that stands out?
I feel that all the people you have mentioned have been very enjoyable to work with.
It has been my great honour to work with a lot of artists who I have admired from childhood, Paul McCartney being one. I have been also lucky to meet other heroes like Pundit-ji Ravi Shankar and it was through his brilliant daughter, Anoushka Shankar, and producing her album ‘Traces of You’, that I also got to work with her sister, the legendary Nora Jones. It is not just the well-known names that I have found exciting to meet and collaborate with, however. I find every collaboration fulfilling and I love meeting new and up and coming artists who are trying to find their feet in the ever-changing music industry.
You scored last year’s film ‘Mowgli’; any other film projects in the works?
There are several other film projects in the works. However, I am not in a position to name them at the moment as in the industry quite often we have to sign NDAs which are non-disclosure agreements. This means, unfortunately, I am not at liberty to talk about projects that are forthcoming. However, I am very excited by the work that I am doing currently and there will definitely be announcements soon.
You also score music for television, theatre and video games; is the same creative process in play for these projects that is for your own studio albums?
It is a very different process when you create music for studio albums than when you create music for television, theatre, video games or film.
When you work with directors you are helping them to fulfill their own vision and you are drawing on your experience and knowledge of music and the medium you are working in to facilitate the best possible outcome for everyone involved creatively. However, when I am making a studio album it is a very solitary process in the first instance in that I am trying to find an idea or something that I want to say and I am always trying to consider the best people to work with for that project.
The difference is that I am more in control of the outcome when I make a studio album and it is more of an artistic catharsis than a professional engagement.
