Nitin Sawhney

Nitin Sawhney
CBE
Sawhney in 2009
Sawhney in 2009
Background information
Born1964 (age 59–60)
London, England
OriginRochester, Kent, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Producer
  • songwriter
  • multi-instrumentalist
  • DJ
  • orchestral composer
WebsiteNitinSawhney.com

Nitin Sawhney CBE (/ˈnɪtɪn ˈsɔːni/; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer.[1] 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 and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics, and spirituality.[2][3][4][5][6] 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.[7] In 2021, he was an ambassador for the Royal Albert Hall.

Sawhney has scored for and performed with orchestras, and collaborated with and written for Paul McCartney, Sting, the London Symphony Orchestra, A. R. Rahman, Brian Eno, Sinéad O'Connor, Jacob Golden, Anoushka Shankar, Jeff Beck, Shakira, Will Young, Joss Stone, Taio Cruz, Ellie Goulding, Horace Andy, Cirque du Soleil, Akram Khan, Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair, Nelson Mandela, Ojos de Brujo, Hélène Grimaud, Natacha Atlas, Jools Holland, Jorja Smith, John Hurt and Pink Floyd. Performing extensively around the world, Sawney has achieved an international reputation across multiple artistic mediums.[2][4][5][8][9][10][11]

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, BAFTA, BIFA, and a new role as Patron for the PRS Foundation.[12] 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, sits on the board for British theatre company Complicite. In 2017, Sawhney received the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award.[4][9]

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.[13] He accepted it for his father, who he said had died regretting that Sawhney had rejected the OBE.[14][non-primary source needed][15]

Since 2014, the publishing interest of Nitin Sawhney's catalogue has been represented by Reservoir Media Management.[16]

  1. ^ Mesure, Susie (18 July 2010). "Oh no! Sawhney's off talking about physics again". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 June 2022.
  2. ^ a b Fairman, Richard (17 September 2020). "Nitin Sawhney on giving immigrants a positive musical voice". Financial Times.
  3. ^ Kalia, Ammar (11 January 2019). "The birth of Asian underground: 'This music was for us and by us, and that was very powerful'". The Guardian.
  4. ^ a b c Sarkar, Monica (21 May 2019). "Producer Nitin Sawhney uses music to break down barriers". CNN.
  5. ^ a b Joshi, Tara (7 September 2021). "A potted history of the 1990s British (South) Asian Underground". Mixmag.
  6. ^ York, Melissa (2 November 2018). "Composer Nitin Sawhney opens up about the dystopia inspired by his father's death, Brexit and Schrodinger's Cat". City A.M.
  7. ^ "Full Bio". nitinsawhney.com.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference 9-thenational was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ a b Gupta, Nidhi (27 February 2020). "British-Indian musician and composer Nitin Sawhney is creating borderless music in this age of unreason". GQ India.
  10. ^ Bunbury, Stephanie (18 October 2019). "'I don't feel as comfortable': Nitin Sawhney on the UK's racist shift". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  11. ^ Murray, Robin (2 February 2021). "Nitin Sawhney Details New Album 'Immigrants'". Clash.
  12. ^ "Patron, Ambassadors and Advisors | PRS Foundation Patron". PRS Foundation. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
  13. ^ "Artful dodger". Private Eye. London: Pressdram Ltd. 11 January 2019.
  14. ^ Sawhney, Nitin [@thenitinsawhney] (28 December 2018). "...Apparently it's a CBE. I turned down an OBE years ago and my dad passed away regretting that I didn't take it..." (Tweet). Retrieved 19 December 2019 – via Twitter.
  15. ^ "Nitin Sawhney, Musician and Composer". HARDtalk. BBC News. 27 September 2021.
  16. ^ Barchi, Aly; Malt, Andy & Cooke, Chris (17 October 2014). "CMU's One Liners: Kevin Kadish, Nitin Sawhney, Kobalt, Independent Label Market and more". Complete Music Update. Retrieved 19 December 2019.