Music that Changed Me

Composer and producer

Composer and producer Nitin Sawhney

Nitin Sawhney has collaborated with everyone from the London Symphony Orchestra and pianist Hélène Grimaud to Paul Mccartney and Anoushka Shankar. His influences span jazz, flamenco, rock and Indian classical music and he performs, produces and composes for artists, films and TV series. The single ‘Down the Road’ from Immigrants, his first recording for Sony Masterworks, is out now.

My dad had a great vinyl collection; he loved music from all over the world. He was a hi-fi freak, passionate about sound quality, which helped me get into listening for the beauty and tonal qualities of music. If you’re listening on a great hi-fi system to someone like Segovia who was very into tone, you can appreciate that a lot more. My mother had studied classical dance in India and she used to sing beautifully, just around the house. Both of them come from a line of poets but no one in my immediate family played an instrument.

I grew up in Rochester, Kent, where I started the piano at five, followed by classical and flamenco guitar and tabla at the local Gurdwara. I responded immediately to French composers such as Satie, Ravel and especially DEBUSSY.I used to love playing Arabesque No. 1 when I was young; it creates an amazing flow in your hands and in the way you play. Harmonically, Debussy was a master and influenced a lot of jazz pianists later on.

I was blown away by the musical connections I heard when I went to India; I hadn’t known that flamenco originally came from Rajasthan. There’s a great film by Tony Gatlif called Latcho Drom which traces the Romany people’s journey from north-west India to Spain. The flamenco fusion band INDIALUCIA dedicates their sound to this, and you can hear gorgeous connections in their beautiful track ‘Herencia Hindú’. It’s in a 12-beat cycle which in India is called ektaal and in Spain is a slow Soleá por bulerías. You can hear that historical depth when you listen to it.

NUSRAT FATEH ALI KHAN has one of those emotive voices that can transcend boundaries. It emerges from the Sufi Qawwali tradition, but it has been used in many film scores – it’s so unusual for an Islamic tradition to be used in mainstream film. In 1990 Massive Attack made a remix of Khan’s Mustt Mustt, bringing together two of my favourite artists. Massive Attack are producers’ producers – they knew way before others did how to create sounds that are club-friendly without the boring, repetitive aspects. They pushed boundaries with their production techniques and after Migration I changed my techniques too, particularly when working with female vocalists.

As a teenager I was in a heavy rock band and I was all about playing fast riffs. As

I got older, listening to great artists and producers helped me learn to let go of that ego and create tracks that were about the musicality and the emotions. I had the privilege, some years ago, of playing acoustic guitar on Malian singer OUMOU SANGARÉ’S album Worotan. The track I play on, ‘Djôrôlen’, was a very spontaneous expression and it was so lovely to play with her voice. I’ve always been a fan of Malian music and I was happy to have a chance to play with one of my favourite singers. I’m drawn to great tones and the versatility of the women I’ve met – Nicki Wells, Imogen Heap, Eska and so many more.

I saw KATE TEMPEST recently at the Roundhouse and I thought she was mind-blowing. She is an amazing lyricist and poet. I find her very inspiring in that she’s very candid about her thoughts and feelings about the world and herself. As a rapper she’s an exciting force in the UK. The Book of Traps and Lessons is a seminal album and ‘Europe Is Lost’ is so powerful.

I’ve just signed my first contract with a major label, Sony Masterworks – I love that they call themselves a genre-f luid label. I’ll be touring in the autumn with my band, a ludicrously talented, diverse group of musicians, for my latest project, Immigrants. I’m practising more than I have in a few years and I’m feeling like this could be a good period of creative incubation – and the album could sound stronger for it.