Nitin Sawhney With the release of Philtre, Nitin Sawhney’s new album growing ever closer he took some time out to talk to Contactmusic.com So how is your day going? It’s going good thanks, I’m meeting up with Akram Khan who is a dancer and Antony Gormley who is a sculptor ( creator of the Angel of the North) later on in the day so yea, that ought to be interesting. I’ve done stuff with both of them before, Akram has internationally toured some of the stuff I have written for him and he’s a brilliant  He’s just won the South Bank award for best choreography.

You’ve been away for a while what have you been up to?

I’ve been writing a lot of orchestral music for symphony orchestras and working with a lot of film. I’ve been doing an awful lot of that. I’ve DJ’d across India and America, loads of things really!

So do you enjoy the film side?

Yea it’s fantastic, at the moment I am doing Mira Nair’s next film. She did Vanity Fair and Monsoon Wedding; she’s brilliant to work with. I’ve done about thirty odd films now so I’ve done quite a lot of that over the years. I love it, I signed earlier on in the year to an agency in Hollywood called CAA, it’s the main film score composer’s agency, they’ve been chucking stuff at me which is all really good.

So is it a case of you choosing the films you want?

Yea, well the director has to be into what you do and you have to have an equal regard for their work then it’s just a case of seeing what comes along. The main thing at the moment for me is I’m touring the album and even thought I love the film side this is equally exciting, we have some great dates lined up and it’s all looking pretty cool.

New Album, Philtre   is out soon are you happy with it?

Yea it’s coming out on the 2 nd of May; it’s all great I’ve had really good feedback and its all coming up well. We spent 3 months recording in total. It was really intensive, I basically didn’t sleep but up until then it was just getting all the ideas together and making it work. That took about a year.

When you write music, how much of it is premeditated and how much is happy accident?

I’ll have a kind of idea of what I want to do and what I want to say on the album and then things just evolve from that. Sometimes it’s through collaboration and sometimes I’ll sit down at the piano and get into a particular mood or feeling that I’m thinking about and take it from there. But overall I always have some kind of idea of what I want to do with an album and where I want to take it.

What was your main idea for this album?

Well Philtre, the title is all about heeling, and it is kind of the idea of music working as a heeling potion. It’s about getting away from all the politics and all the rubbish that I think inundate the media, There’s lots of minuets on the album and it’s a lot more about optimism through despair I guess. It builds in energy as it goes along and I guess those were the things that were going through my head when I made it.

Do you ever find it difficult to translate your music into a live set?

Well I try not to translate it. I try to make a live set based on what I have done on the record, I guess it’s a different kind of medium so I try and work on that and make it much more about energy and spontaneity and building and electricity between the band and the audience.

When you were younger was music an individual outlet just for you or did it run in your family?

My mum was a Bharata Natyam dancer and that is a form of Indian classical dance and she has actually written a poem in Hindi that I have used on the album. Also my brothers used to play a lot of music, my middle brother used to play a lot of guitar and I think that had an influence on me but I also think the music that was played in the house had a big impact on me. My dad used to play a lot of Cuban, Brazilian and flamenco records, My mum played a lot of classical Indian music and my brothers played a lot of jazz, funk, soul and also a lot of rock like Led Zeppelin, The Doors and stuff like that. It was a really varied mix of influences that I had from everyone.

Which of your songs sums up your present mood and why?

Probably ‘ Koyal’, I woke up this morning and felt I had a bit of flu coming on or something. It could even be ‘Spark’ I think that’s a better indication of my mood this morning! Hopefully by the end of the day I will be up to what ‘The Search’ sounds like and that’s a little livelier.

Since your career as a musician began what is the best thing that has happened to you?

Oh well meeting Nelson Mandela was the best thing, when I was making the album ‘ Prophesy’ I went around the world meeting loads of different people and chatting to them, but when I went to Nelson Mandela’s house and talking to him and interviewing him for the album was definitely the best thing that has ever happened. It’s was such a huge thing and that fact that he was up for doing it was great. The funniest thing about it was that his assistant came on to the room and said President Mbeki is on the phone and he really needed to take the call, he turned around to me and he asked me how many more questions I had left to ask so I replied 2 or 3 and he turned back around to his assistant and told him to tell President Mbeki that he was busy and he would call him back in 10 minutes. That was excellent!

What instruments do you play?

I play a lot of instruments, when I grew up I was a classical pianist first, I played from the age of about 5. I started out by playing in a youth orchestra and then changed to Jazz quartets a little later on. I also played flamenco guitar from the age of about 11. When I was 12 I learned how to play the classical Indian instrument the Tabla but I also play the drums, bass and yea I think that about it! I often think from an orchestral point of view about things more in terms of sound rather than just one instrument so I’m always trying out different instruments.

How do you unwind?

I do Thai boxing, i don’t think I could punch my way out of a paper bag this morning but I also do a lot of exercises, I use a Swiss ball which is quite good, I do a lot of balancing on it but mainly I play music to unwind. I check out a lot of films in my spare time and of course I go out to the pub with my mates and just have a good chat.

The last album you bought?

Oh wow! I don’t know, I can’t think what it was. It’s been ages because people just give me albums to listen to all the time. Just yesterday I was listening to Bloc Party album Silent Alarm and I liked the first track actually, it’s called Like Eating Glass and I liked that because it reminded me of Stiff Little Fingers drummer and the and The Cure singer Robert Smith. It just made me think about my time at university because I used to play the drums in a band at uni and I would base a lot of the drumming on Stiff Little Fingers. It’s interesting hearing it now because that’s what I used to do and model my drumming on. It made me all nostalgic, at that time I used to go and see The Cure and it just took me back! That’s a long time ago now unfortunately!

Apart from music what else are you really passionate about?

Film definitely, I got very excited when I saw an Iranian film the other day, I think everything feeds back into what I’m feeling about the world and politics and stuff like that. I think it is important to try and humanize people who are dehumanized by the press. It’s like the whole asylum stuff at the moment makes people incredibly paranoid. Words like terrorism make people unduly nervous about people from other countries. What I really like is going and seeing cinematography fromplaces like Iran. Infact channel 4 are doing a new season and I went along to watch one the other day, a film by Kiarostami called “Where's the friend house” and that was brilliant. He’s a genius director. I guess I’m passionate for politics in the way that I am actually very dispassionate for it but when it comes to humanity and people being treated fairly, I get really angry about things like that. For instance the thing with aboriginal tribes being treated like S***, it’s completely going straight under people these days because there’s so much unfairness in the world right now. I feel like the tsunami has kind of been sidelined where as people still keep on talking about the 4000 people who were killed on 9/11 which was 2001 yet 300,000 people died in with the Tsunami and not many people can even remember that this happened a few months ago on boxing day.

What is your Motive for life?

I guess it is to try and get balance, in terms of how you feel whether it be physically, mentally and how your outlook is on other people. I think the best way to achieve balance is to respect yourself and other people. That’s what I am always looking for.

What is next for you?

As I said I was doing Mira Nair’s next film score but the closet thing is touring! Rehearsal starts next week and then we start the tour with Shepherds Bush, it looks like a lot of the shows are going to sell out and then we are going into Europe.

Contactmusic.com has an area on the website dedicated to unsigned artist, what advice would you give them?

Be yourself! Always make music that you can represent yourself, I don’t think there’s anything worse than people trying to be or do someone else’s music and try and carry it off as their own ideas or feelings. I think it is a case of trying to be original and true to your identity.

http://www.nitinsawhney.com

Nitin Sawhney On BBC Collective

Album: Migration

Track Listing: Migration Bahaar Hope River Pulse - Rain Mix Market Daze Punjabi Raniha Awareness

Released 1995 on Outcaste Records. This is Nitin Sawhneys second album. Musicians involved include Aref Dervesh, James Taylor, Jayanta Bose & Natacha Atlas.

Album: Displacing the Priest

Track Listing: Oceans and Rain In the Mind Herecica Latino Saudades Displacing the Priest Bengali Song Streets Voices Pieces of Ten - Chandru Mix Vidya

Released 1996 on Outcaste Records. Nitin Sawhney is without a doubt one of the most important British-Asian artists working in the UK. And Displacing the Priest, involving 14 musicians in all, is his most ambitious project yet. It's a personal reflection upon spiritualality and organised religion, the gulf that can sometimes exist between the two - a record that's polemic without being preachy, thematic without being a theme album, and profound woithout being anthing but undeniably funky.
At its heart, a series of compositions illustrate and illuminate the British-Asian search for self - the reaching out for identity common to all generations born of an immigrant race - and the religious raod map which so often shapes that journey. Displacing the Priest is about discarding the map and relying on instincts: turning away from the ready-made answers of organised religion and its self-proclaimed rule-makers, and finding a personal spirituality elsewhere.
Fittingly, the reocrd opens with a prayer, an ancient Hindu invocation that Nitin recorded at a temple in Chandigarh. Through a dreamy, ambient rainstorm (recorded from the top of a mountain) it segues into modern electronic percussion and Jayanta Bose's compelling vocals. In a way, 'Oceans and Rain' is a big musical metaphor - the pursuit of a modern, abstract spirituality born from ancient, organised religion. 'In the Mind' continues the meeting of cultures in the form of Asian classical vocalist Devinder Singh and young soul singer Denyse Anyogu, grooving together beautifully against a subtly funky electronic backdrop. Two traditional forms of Asian vocals are combined in 'Bengali Song' and 'Voices' with a funky Fender Rhodes and a backing of high-speed contemporary human beat-box - aural reminders that traditional music and spirituality are where you find them, not just in ancient prayer and the natural world.
But don't be mislead into thinking this is an album of messages. If you have Nitin's previous record Migration, then you're already familiar with Nitin's gift for a good groove. Here, from the dark, arresting rap-based title track collaboration with Charles Oleghe and JC001, and its compelling jungle conclusion, through the tough dance beat of 'Streets' and 'Voices' hectic drum 'n bass beat box, Displacing the Priest is hardly short of catchy grooves.
Mostly, the fusing went out of fusion long ago. Nitin brings traditions together in new and arresting ways. If the success of Migration and Spirit Dance before it suggest anything, it is that Nitin is hitting a nerve - using the Asian experience to talk to the UK community as a whole, and doing it very eloquently indeed.

Linton Chiswick

CD Single: Letting Go

Track Listing: Letting Go Nadia

Released 1999 on Outcaste Records. Taken from the album 'Beyon Skin' by Nitin Sawhney [CASTE 9 CD/LP]. Track 1 written by N Sawhney and C. Grey. Track 2 written by N. Sawhney. Arranged, produced and programmed by Nitin Sawhney at Spirit Dance Studios. Vocals on Letting Go by Tina Grace. Vocals on track 2 by Swati Natekar.

Album: Broken Skin

Track Listing: Broken Skin (5.05) Letting Go (5.37) Homelands (6.57) The Pilgrim (5.22) Tides (5.54) Nadia (5.48) Immigrant (7.17) Serpents (7.16) Anthem Without Nation (7.22) Nostalgia (3.50) The Conference (3.18) Beyond Skin (4.27)

Released 1999 on Outcaste Records.

Album: Prophesy

Track Listing: Sunset Nothing Aquired Dreams Nothing More Moonrise Street Guru (Part One) The Preacher Breathing Light Developed Footsteps Walk Away Cold and Intimate Street Guru (Part Two) Ripping Out Tears Prophesy

Released 6/01 on V2 Music. Following on from Sawnheys 1999 'Beyond Skin' is his fifth album, 'Prophesy'. This is an album that is about visions of the future and, in Sawhneys own thought provoking words, "wants to challenge the west's definition of the developing world and highlight the contrast between the spiritual impoverishment of the materially rich west and the comparative spiritual wealth of the supposedly undeveloped world". Phew! Hence 'Prophecy' was recorded around the globe and includes a myriad of individuals, from a random Chicago taxi driver ranting about the problems of globalisation to the street children in Brazil, a Rishile School choir in Soweto singing a song penned by Sawhney to an interview with Nelson Mandela. As in Sawnheys previous albums, the styles and musical genres are varied, touching on drum and bass, hard rap, acoustic and electronica. Whether or not his underlying message can be passed onto the people is another matter, but what is sure is that once again Nitin Sawnhey has excelled himself.

Album: Nitin Sawhney feat. Eska - Sunset

Track Listing: CD1: Sunset - Nitin's Radio Edit Sunset - KV's Remix Sunset - London Elektricity Remix CD2: Sunset - M J Cole Remix Sunset - J-Walk Remix Prophesy - Album Version

Released 7/01 on V2 Music. Taken from the album Prophesy. Produced, written and arranged by Nitin Sawhney. Addtional remix and production on CD1 track 3 by London Elektricity and on CD2 track 2 by J-Walk.

FILM REVIEW; Modernity And Tradition At a Cultural Crossroads

By STEPHEN HOLDEN
Published: March 9, 2007, Friday

Color is the stuff of life in the movies of Mira Nair, the Indian-born director whose newest film, ''The Namesake,'' follows two generations of a Bengali family from late-1970s Calcutta to New York City. Her lush palette lends her films a throbbing physicality that invites you to step into the screen and embrace the sensuous here and now.

''The Namesake,'' adapted from Jhumpa Lahiri's popular novel, conveys a palpable sense of people as living, breathing creatures who are far more complex than their words might indicate. The story of upwardly mobile immigrants torn between tradition and modernity as they are absorbed into the American melting pot has been told in countless movies.

This variation is gentle and compassionate. The longing for roots of these displaced middle-class Indians lends a soulful undertow to a film conspicuously lacking in melodrama.

Ms. Nair has a sympathetic collaborator in Sooni Taraporevala, the Indian screenwriter who also wrote her first two features, ''Salaam Bombay!'' (1988) and ''Mississippi Masala'' (1991). Its steady, unhurried pace, its fascination with the rituals of daily life and its deep respect for characters who are continually evolving lift ''The Namesake'' above high-end soap opera. It may lack epic grandeur, but by the end you feel you know these people well enough to keep in step with their internal rhythms.

The film has a crackling star performance by Kal Penn (from the clever trash comedy ''Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle''), who brings an offhanded charisma to the role of Gogol, the first-born child of Ashima (Tabu), a classically trained singer, and Ashoke Ganguli (Irrfan Khan), an aspiring engineer, who move to America in 1977 after their arranged marriage in Calcutta.

Alone together in a foreign land in the middle of winter, the shy, polite newlyweds are virtual strangers, and the movie captures their delicate process of mutual accommodation. Ashima's initiation into American culture has gentle, humorous moments. She is astonished to discover gas stoves that work 24 hours a day and learns the hard way that wool sweaters should not be dumped into a washing machine.

A prologue looks back to a turning point in Ashoke's life. During a train trip in 1974 to visit his grandfather, a friendly stranger advises him to leave India and see the world. Ashoke is reading ''The Overcoat,'' the famous story by the Russian writer Nikolai Gogol, who spent much of his life outside his homeland. When the train crashes later in the trip, Ashoke miraculously survives, and the Gogol story becomes a totem in his life, a symbolic tie to his homeland and an omen of good luck.

Years later when his son is born, Ashoke is told that the baby cannot leave the hospital without a name. In India several years might pass before a child is given a formal name, chosen by the maternal grandmother. Ashoke impulsively calls his son Gogol. As the boy grows up, his ambivalence about his temporary name, which he embraces, then rejects (his formal name is Nikhil), becomes a metaphor for his divided cultural identity.

In high school Gogol rebels from his family and behaves like a typical pot-smoking, rock-'n'-roll-loving American teenager. On a visit to Calcutta he sneers at Indian ways. After studying architecture at Yale, he falls in love with Maxine (Jacinda Barrett), a stereotypical blonde WASP princess from Long Island. Cultural tensions flare when he brings her home to meet his family, and the couple are expected to withhold any expressions of physical affection, according to Indian tradition.

Gogol eventually falls in love with Moushumi (Zuleikha Robinson), a beautiful Bengali woman who lived a freewheeling life in Paris before coming to the United States. His female counterpart, she is as culturally confused as he is, and the relationship runs into trouble.

Despite all the tensions in the Ganguli household, ''The Namesake'' expresses a reassuring faith in family solidarity. Avoiding the cliché of pitting disobedient immigrant children in pitched battles against tradition-bound parents from the old country, the film assumes that blood ties are the strongest bonds holding together the social order.

In the second half of the movie the Ganguli parents step into the background as the focus shifts to Gogol. But instead of disappearing, Ashoke and Ashima loom as dignified, stabilizing pillars of tolerance and devotion whom their son and his younger sister, Sonia (Sahira Nair), cherish, even as they reject the old ways.

''The Namesake'' is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has mild sexual situations.

The Namesake
Opens today in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Toronto.

Directed by Mira Nair; written by Sooni Taraporevala, based on the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri; director of photography, Frederick Elmes; edited by Allyson C. Johnson; music by Nitin Sawhney; production designer, Stephanie Carroll; produced by Lydia Dean Pilcher and Ms. Nair; released by Fox Searchlight. Running time: 122 minutes.