Nitin Sawhney .:

Nitin Sawhney is one of Britain's most original and gifted music creators - over the last decade he has carved out a singular niche in British culture melding the musical barriers between East and West, between classicism and popularity, interspersing music from around the world to club-land-culture. His 4th album, Beyond Skin (released in 2000) was short-listed as one of the albums of the year for the Mercury Music Prize and it also won the prestigious South Bank Show Award. Its successor, 2001's Prophesy - recorded in five continents and featuring over 230 musicians - won Nitin further honours including a MOBO, an EMMA & a BBC Radio 3 Award. Nitin Sawhney’s latest album – Philtre – was released by V2 in 2005.

Besides his own albums, Nitin Sawhney is massively in demand to score for film and television - film scores include Pure (directed by Gilles Mackinnon) & Anita and Me (directed by Metin Husseyin). For TV, his credits include Channel 4's Bodily Harm (starring George Cole & Timothy Spall), a new adaptation of Twelfth Night and Neil Biswas' drama Second Generation, both of which aired in 2003. In addition, Kaash - his collaboration with dancer Akram Khan (a fellow South Bank Show Award nominee) and sculptor Anish Kapoor - world-premiered at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall and has toured as far afield as China. His BBC Proms commissions have been received to great acclaim and among his recent album production credits is Varekai for Cirque du Soleil (their latest global touring show). Having completed Lila Says, for Passion Pictures, Nitin will soon start work on Mira Nair’s new feature film, The Namesakefor 20th Century Fox. He also recently composed a striking score for the Sony Computer Entertainments blockbuster video game, Heavenly Sword.

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Film Credits

THE NAMESAKE
Fox Searchlight
Director: Mira Nair
Producer: Lydia Pilcher

THROW OF DICE
Franz Osten (1929) silent film
Orchestral score performed by the BBC Concert Orchestra
UK Premiere March 2005 at London’s Barbican Theatre

LILA SAYS
Passion Pictures
Director: Ziad Doueiri                                            
Producer: John Battsek

THE LEGEND OF THE TAMWORTH TWO
BBC/Box TV
Director: Metin Huseyin
Producer: Matthew Bouch, Matthew Bird

PURE
Director: Gilles MacKinnon
Producer: Howard Burch

ANITA & ME
Director: Metin Huseyin
Producer: Paul Raphael

DANCE OF THE SHIVA
Epiphany Productions
Director: Jamie Payne

SPLIT WIDE OPEN
Director: Derv Benegal
Award winner at the Vienna Film Festival

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Television

NATURAL FANTASIA
BBC Natural History Production
Director: Sean Christian

ROSE AND MALONEY
Company Pictures/ITV
Director: Metin Husseyin
Producer: Catherine Wearing

ENGLAND EXPECTS
BBC
Director: Tony Smith
Producer: Ruth Caleb

SECOND GENERATION
Channel 4
Director: John Sen
Producer: Catherine Wearing

BODILY HARM
Channel 4
Director: Joe Wright
Producer: Catherine Wearing

12th NIGHT
Channel 4
Director: Tim Supple
Producer: Rachel Gesua

STAYING ALIVE 3
MTV – for World Aids Day

FLIGHT
BBC
Director: Alex Pillai

THE FIANCEE
Director: Alex Harvey

IVOR THE INVISIBLE
Channel 4
Director: Hilary Audas
Producer: Paul Madden

THE SIKHS
BBC Documentary Series
Director: John Das

Games

HEAVENLY SWORD

Director: Ben Hibons
Writer: Rhianna Pratchett

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Albums

SPIRIT DANCE
Spirit Dance (Nitin Sawhney’s own label)

MIGRATION
Outcaste

DISPLACING THE PRIEST
Outcaste

BEYOND SKIN
V2 – North America
Outcaste – Rest of the World

PROPHESY
V2

HUMAN
V2

PHILTRE
V2

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Awards

1996 - Sony Award for Goodness Gracious Me (best radio series)
1998 - The EMMA Award for Displacing The Priest
2000 - Shortlisted for the annual Technics Mercury Music Prize for the album of the year – Beyond Skin
2000 - The South Bank Award for Popular Music for Beyond Skin
2000 - The BBC Asia Award for Music - part of the Mega Mela Festival for Prophesy
2001 - The MOBO Award for Prophesy
2002The Boundary Crossing Award  @ the inaugural BBC Radio 3 Music Awards for Prophesy
2002 - Staying Alive 3 for World Aids Day – winner of 2 awards @ Cable Positive’s 1st Annual Awards
2002 - Shortlisted for the Media Personality of the year – RIMA Awards
2002 - The EMMA Award for Prophesy
2002 - The Muso Award for Prophesy
2003 - Commission for Racial Equality Award
2004 - Ivor Novello Award (nomination for Best Film Score for TV
“Second Generation” C4)

Documentaries

ITV1
Faith and Music, 60 minute documentary on Nitin Sawhney
Transmission - Autumn 2005

BBC4
Francesca Kemp – aired June 2002 (includes film shot at December 2001’s Albert Hall concert together with footage of scoring Kaash & other work in progress film / TV projects).

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Music For Theatre/Dance

THE WAITING ROOM                                      
Composition for the Royal National Theatre – premiered on The South Bank, Spring 2000

KAASH
With Akram Khan (choreography) & Anish Kapoor (design) - world premiered May 2002 at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall & currently touring globally during 2002 / 2003

VAREKAI
Production of Cirque Du Soleil album for show of the same name (2003)

THE MAHABHRATA                                         
New musical for the theatre for CenterStage AG – in pre-production, due to open in The West End, London 2003 / 2004

TRUST
New work written, directed, and scored by Nitin Sawhney for the Royal National Theatre (2005)

THE MAHABHARATA
With writer Stephen Clarke and director Stuart Wood. New musical for the theatre for CenterStage AG - in pre-production, due to open at Sadler’s Wells, London 2006

ZERO DEGREES
With Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi, and Antony GormleY World premiere July 12th, Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London.  Global tour 2005/2006

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Remixes/Production

PAUL MCCARTNEY
Remix of The Fireman (for MPL)

JEFF BECK
Covered Nadia from the Beyond Skin album (for Sony)

KHALED
Remix of El Hababa Wine (for Barclays France/Universal)

MUNGAL
Production of Roshni & Awake! from the album Dreadlocks (for Rituals/Virgin France)

CHEB MAMI
Production of Khalouni, Yahamami, Ana Qualache & Tzazae from the album Dellali (for Virgin France)

MONDO GROSSO
Remix of Now You Know Better (for Sony Music/Japan)

AMAR
Production of the album Outside (for Blanco y Negro/Warners)

NATACHA ATLAS
Remix of Manbai from the album Ayeshteni (for Beggars Banquet)

STING
Remix of 1,000 Years from the album Brand New Day (for Universal)

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL
Production of the Varekai album from the show of the same name (for BMG)

FABRIC LIVE
Nitin Sawhney mixes the quintessential club album of UK Super-club Fabric, 2004 (Fabric Records)

OJOS DE BRUJO
Spanish collective’s forthcoming album 2006

WILL YOUNG
Writing for forthcoming album 2006 (BMG)

RAGHAv
Writing for forthcoming album 2006 (V2 Records)

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Commercials

NIKE
Tackle (Wieden & Kennedy)

SEPHORA
Rockerfeller Center (DDB Needham NY)

Commissions

URBAN PROPHESIES
for the BBC Proms – World Premiere on July 18th 2000 with Joanna MacGregor (piano)

NEURAL CIRCUITS
for Joanna MacGregor & The Britten Sinfonia – premiered UK Winter 2001

CBSO 1&2
for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Spring 2004

THE CLASSROOM
for the Britten Sinfonia
Autumn 2004

TITLE TBC
for the Nuance Ensemble
2006

TITLE TBC
for the Metropole Orchestra, Netherlands
October 2006

Festivals

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
For CultureShock in Manchester – May 2002

ARTISTIC IN RESIDENCE
Channel 4 TV’s Indian Summer – two shows in the UK (Regents Park, London & Roundhay Park, Leeds)

ARTISTIC IN RESIDENCE
For 4 AfterShock Festivals in the UK / Australia
2003 – 2005

ARTISTIC IN RESIDENCE
Festival of World Cultures, Ireland (Autumn 2004)

ARTISTIC IN RESIDENCE
Monsoon Mela Festival, London (Summer 2004)

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
For Aftershock Festival, The Sage, Gateshead, UK
October 2005

Touring

1996/1999
Extensive UK & European touring as well as headline dates in South Africa and the Caribbean

2000Headline British and European tours and Festivals & support shows for Sting in Britain & Europe

2001
From May to December – over 70 headline dates throughout Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Australia – culminating with a sold out show at London’s Royal Albert Hall

2002
Summer DJ sets in Europe, Canada & the UK

2003
Over 20 live dates, including headlining the Big Chill Festival UK, Glastonbury Festival One World Stage, and appearances at WOMAD UK and WOMAD Singapore. DJ Sets in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York (as well as all over Europe). Invited by the UN to perform at St. John the Divine Cathedral in Harlem as part of World Aids Day.

2004
DJ Sets at Shaanti, Fabric, Bern, Zurich, Portugal, Dubai, New York (Lincoln Center), Los Angeles (Hollywood Bowl), DC, and live shows across the globe

2004
Touring with the Britten Sinfonia across the UK and Europe as classical pianist

2005
UK and European Tours for the album Philtre + Aftershock
Gateshead

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