SUSO

Nitin Sawhney’s musical activism is inspiring real cultural engagement.

Words: Matt Bochenski

Back in the day, when musicians wanted to make a difference, everybody knew about it. It meant Bono hanging out with the Pope, or a global audience for Bob Geldof and friends. Activism and ego: the two went hand-in-hand.

But Nitin Sawhney is different. Raised in a tough area of Liverpool in the heyday of the National Front, Sawhney came to music as a way of venting his frustrations about the skinheads who followed him home, and the Asian heritage he wore in his skin. It was here that he developed an instinct to fuse Eastern and Western influences, or perhaps not to fuse, but to transcend.

Versatile and intellectually curious, he played the sitar, tabla and flamenco guitar. After university he toured with the James Taylor Quartet and worked with Talvin Singh, all the while fine-tuning a social conscience that would find expression in his music – whether jazz, electronica, dubstep, film score or classical composition.

Music became Sawhney’s way of exploring his cultural influences and anxieties, and of defying the prejudice that had marked his youth. “I always say that people’s nationality is an accident; it’s a product of chance. I find it quite weird when people say, ‘I’m proud to be British or American,’ or whatever, because you didn’t contribute to that, you just happened to be born in that particular place,” he says. “With culture, that’s something you can contribute to...

Culture is dynamic. It works outside of geographical barriers. So, for me, music is the ultimate example of expressing the vocabulary of culture.”

Sawhney’s cultural interests have inspired him to work with performing arts organisations across Britain and Asia, as well as act as patron of the government’s Access to Music programme. It’s all part of a personal as well as a musical journey. “I’m always exploring what I can do with sound,” he says, “because my perception of the world around me is always changing and shifting. When that happens my perception of association with sound also shifts, so I think society and music have a symbiotic relationship. You have to find your place in the flow of events and social dynamic and your own personal journey in order to make music that has any kind of depth or authenticity.”

Depth and authenticity could be the watchwords of Sawhney’s career, but it’s a fine line between pursuing an agenda of change and engagement, and preaching from your musical pulpit. “A lot of people perceive the albums I’ve made as having a ‘preachy’ element to them,” he admits, “but I just try to create a sense of personal expression with what I do. I feel strongly about certain issues or certain things, but I’m not trying to change anybodies’ opinion, I’m just trying to express my own, and then people can take that however they want.”

Nitin Sawhney’s new album, London Undersound, is out now.