Nitin Sawhney

Nitin Sawhney (born 1964) is a British Indian musician, producer and composer. His work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics and spirituality. Sawhney is also active in the promotion of arts and cultural matters, and is a patron of numerous film festivals, venues, and educational institutions.

Nitin Sawhney was raised in Rochester, Kent, England. As a child he studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar, sitar and tabla. He attended Sir Joseph Williamson's Mathematical School. Subsequently, he studied law at Liverpool University for a short time. It was during this period that Sawhney met up with an school friend, acid-jazz keyboard-player James Taylor. Sawhney then toured as part of The James Taylor Quartet. This experience led to him forming his own band, The Jazztones. He also joined forces with tabla player and DJ/producer Talvin Singh to form the Tihai Trio. After dropping out of university, Sawhney took up a position with a firm of accountants called Day Smith and Hunter in Maidstone, Kent. He trained to become a chartered accountant but found that his music was proving too much of a distraction and quit after about two years. Sawhney moved to London, where he met Sanjeev Bhaskar; together they created the comedy team The Secret Asians. The pair was given a show on BBC Radio, which eventually grew into the award-winning BBC TV sketch show Goodness Gracious Me. Refocusing on music, Sawhney's solo career began in 1993, when he released his debut album, Spirit Dance on his own label.

Now signed to Universal Music Publishing Group, Sawhney has released nine studio albums. He received 17 major national awards for his album work. His final album for Outcaste records, 1999's Beyond Skin, was his breakthrough, earning a Mercury Prize nomination and winning the South Bank Show's award for Popular Music. Subsequently, Richard Branson's V2 Records signed Sawhney to a six-album deal, and released Prophesy in 2001. The album went on to win a MOBO Award, an EMMA and the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award. In 2004 Sawhney issued two remix collections, All Mixed Up and FabricLive.15, released worldwide by London nightclub Fabric and featuring samples of Gipsy Kings' Nicolas Reyes vocals. Sawhney’s album, Philtre, released in May 2005, was awarded the BBC Radio 3 Culture Crossing Award. Last Day's of Meaning, was released in 2011 under Sawhney's own label, Positiv ID. OneZero is Sawhney's new boxset album, recorded live direct to vinyl, to be released in June 2013 with his 10th studio album Dystopian Dream to be released in 2014.