The Official Community Of Nitin Sawhney

As part of the world's "first Formula One^™ night race", Nitin will give two Sound System performances at the Singtel Singapore Grand Prix. The event happens at Circuit Park in the Marina Bay area from September 26 to 28. Capping off each race day will be live performances from "some of the biggest names in the entertainment scene", including Nitin Sawhney. Nitin will be doing two Sound System  sets, accompanied by Aref Durvesh from the UK on Tabla and Ashwin Srinivasan from Mumbai on flute, on September 26 and 28. Visit the Singapore Grand Prix site for more details on the event.

Recordstore.co.uk is currently running a special presale of Nitin's upcoming album together with tour tickets.

When you buy a bundle containing one ticket for the Nitin Sawhney show of your choice in October and November PLUS the new forthcoming CD London Undersound, you also receive a free poster AND a free download of the 'October Daze' track from the album.

The gig ticket will be posted to you in time for the show and the album will be sent out for its release date (13 October, 2008). Booking fee is included in the price. Visit Recordstore.co.uk for full details.

In support of his upcoming album, London Undersound, Nitin will be playing a number of dates around the UK in October and November. He'll be hitting the road with a full band to showcase the songs from the new record. Presales for these shows begin this Friday, August 1 at AEG Live and Artist Ticket.

Visit the Live Appearances page for full details on these dates. Stay tuned for more dates as they are confirmed, including an October date in London.

"T for Tibet" is a new awareness campaign to re-highlight the conditions in Tibet under Chinese occupation. With the world's eyes on China right now, with the upcoming Olympic Games, the campaign has been launched as "a quick, simple way for athletes in Beijing - or anyone, anywhere in the world - to show their support for Tibetan people."

   
Photos by Clive Arrowsmith
Click image for larger view

Part of the campaign is a series of portraits shot by Clive Arrowsmith, featuring well-known people flashing the "T". Nitin has lent his face to the series, along with celebrities like Jeremy Irons, Joanna Lumley and Tsultrim Machu. As Nitin says on his portrait page, "The problems in Tibet are not about politics, about one form of government or another. It's about human rights and freedom."

A Throw of Dice will be screened at the Grant Park Music Festival in downtown Chicago on July 30. The free event will take place at Millenium Park, with the Grant Park Orchestra. For more information, visit the Appearances section.

The folks at Luminato have reserved 9 spots at Wednesday's video game workshop for the NitinSawhney.com community. Happening at the Gladstone Hotel at 7:30 PM EST on June 11, Nitin is leading a workshop on the unique process of creating a score for video games.

The first 9 individuals to answer the following question correctly will be put on the list for the workshop.

How many Luminato 2008 events is Nitin participating in?

 

Send your answer to us by noon EST on Wednesday June 11 to be eligible to win. You can read the full Rules and Regulations at NitinSawhney.com. Good luck!

It's now confirmed that Nitin will be performing at the Sudoeste Festival in Zambujeira do Mar, Portugal. The four-day festival runs August 7 through 10, with Nitin performing a full-band live gig on the 9th. Other confirmed guests include Björk, Franz Ferdinand, Chemical Brothers and Goldfrapp. Visit our Appearances page for more details and ticketing information.

The Big Chill is once again taking place at Eastnor Castle this summer, and that’s where you can catch a DJ set by Nitin. On August 3, Nitin will be spinning at the Shaanti session in the Club Tent. With the beautiful surroundings of the Deer Park, this is sure to be an unforgettable event. For more details and ticket information, visit the Appearances page.

Another Nitin-scored stage production will be playing at the Barbican Theatre this October. As part of the Barbican's 2008/09 season, Complicite's multi-award winning play, A Disappearing Number, will return to London for 3 weeks, from October 10 to November 1.

Nitin Sawhney's lush score for Ninja Theory's Playstation 3 game, Heavenly Sword, has been nominated for an Interactive Achievement Award. Presented by The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards are being held to showcase "the greatest and most innovative games" of the last year. This year's awards are being held at the Red Rock Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, NV on February 7. In a new development, you can watch the awards, hosted for the third year by Jay Mohr, via a live webcast on GameSpot.

Following the successful screening of Franz Osten's film at Trafalgar Square last month, there will be three more screenings of this silent film classic in October. The performers for the evening will be:

Nitin Sawhney (celeste, grand piano)
Aref Durvesh (tabla)
Ashwin Srinivasan (flutes)
Reena Bhardwaj (vocals)
Tina Grace (vocals)
Davinder Singh (vocals)

The Northern Sinfonia
Conducted by Stephen Hussey

Performances will be:

Friday October 26 @  7:30 pm - The Sage Gateshead
Saturday October 27 @ 6:15 pm - Birmingham Symphony Hall
Sunday October 28 @ 8:00 pm - The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

 For more information, and to get tickets to these screenings, click the venue name.

Welcome to the new NitinSawhney.com. We’ll be making frequent adjustments and additions to the site, and welcome your comments and suggestions. You can visit the Forums to let us know what you think.
 
The new site features a music player containing four full-length tracks, a new photo gallery, an audience reaction area, and a Discography. We’ve also got more to come, including the official NitinSawhney.com Store. Join the mailing list and check back regularly to stay informed and see what’s new.  Thanks for visiting.

As part of the Proms tradition, 1400 tickets known as “Prommers” will be released on the day of the show at a cost of £5 each. The doors open one hour before the show and tickets are sold on a first come first served basis. We would suggest you arrive early and queue so as not to be disappointed.

Further guests confirmed for Nitin Sawhney’s Prom
Guests include Imogen Heap, Fink, and Anoushka Shankar
10 August 2007, 9.00pm
Royal Albert Hall (and live on BBC Radio 3)

Nitin Sawhney, one of the most significant creative forces in modern music, is gathering together a sensational group of friends including Natacha Atlas, Jason Singh, Reena Bhardwaj, Fink, Tina Grace, Imogen Heap, Akram Khan, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, and Anoushka Shankar to explore the many aspects of his album and collaborative works for the first time. The concert will feature the London Undersound Symphony Orchestra, a specially created 60-piece collective of both Indian and Western classical musicians brought together for this event. Nitin will also showcase new material at this one-off BBC Proms concert in the Royal Albert Hall on 10 August.

He says: “For many years I have been working not only as an album and live artist but also as a composer for film, theatre, videogames, and dance. Having worked extensively with orchestras across the world, the BBC Proms is giving me the unprecedented opportunity to bring together some of that work through a specially created symphony orchestra of talent from both India and the UK. I will also be joined on stage by some of my favourite artists and past collaborators to complete a night of evocative journeys, shifting from the intimate to the epic”.

Following the success of his Electric Proms appearance in 2006, Nitin, his special guests, and his London Undersound Symphony Orchestra will deliver a high-powered performance comprising of his past and current works, which between them have garnered around a dozen awards including a South Bank Show Award, a MOBO, two EMMAs, two BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards and Ivor Novello, Laurence Olivier and Technics Mercury Music Prize nominations.

The current line-up for this BBC Proms includes:

Nitin Sawhney (piano, guitar)
The London Under Sound Symphony Orchestra
Conducted by Stephen Hussey

Akram Khan (dancer/choreographer) Anoushka Shankar (sitar) Aref Durvesh (tabla) Ashwin Srinivasan (flute) Fink (vocals) Ges-e and Osmani Soundz (FX) Hazel Fernandes (vocals) Ian Burdge (cello) Imogen Heap (vocals)

Jason Singh (vocal percussion) Karlos Edwards (drums) Lucita Jules (vocals) Natacha Atlas (vocals) Reena Bhardwaj (vocals) Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui (dancer/choreographer) Steve Shehan (percussion) Tina Grace (vocals)

Nitin will be the keynote speaker at the UK's Association of Independent Music's (AIM) June 28 Annual General Meeting. The AGM is being held at London Calling at Earls Court. AIM will also have a presence at the event with the AIM UK Pavilion, which is "[t]ailored specifically for UK indie labels, publishers and managers to promote their business to the thousands of delegates attending London Calling by having a physical presence at the show."

Nitin will be speaking primarily about his multi award-winning work, and the challenges facing record companies in understanding and harnessing the potential of artists capable of working across a broad range of media platforms.

Nitin Sawhney’s live orchestral performances of his score to Franz Osten’s 1929 silent classic “A Throw of Dice” continues to capture people’s imagination around the world.

Having been performed in London, Amsterdam, and most recently Auckland, the next live orchestral Throw of Dice performance will be held at Italy’s Arezzo Wave Festival on July 17th.

See here for more information.

The Nitin Sawhney-scored theatrical production Fallujah draws on research and interviews carried out by the playwright and triple Nobel Prize nominee Dr. Scilla Elworthy.  This play presents testimony from those at the heart of the siege.: Iraqi civilians, clerics, US military and politicians, journalists, medics, aid workers, and the British Army.  None of this testimony has been heard before.  Every word of thisplay is verbatim.   This unique event stars Harriet Walter and marks the first time collaboration between writer Jonathan Holmes, composer Nitin Sawhney, and artists Lucy and Jorge Orta.

Fallujah: {www.fallujah.co.uk}
May 1st - June 2nd at The Old Truman Brewery, Bricklane, London

Nitin Sawhney and Special Guests, Electric Proms 2006 - Footage now available to watch online!
{Click Me!}

We can now announce that 'Heavenly Sword', perhaps the most anticipated game in videogames history, will be scored by Nitin Sawhney.  Heavenly Sword is an action-packed and visually breathtaking martial arts adventure designed and developed by Ninja Theory exclsuively for Sony Playstation 3. Sawhney's score will be delivered in December and we expect the game to be released in early 2007.
More on the game from Ninja Theory:
Heavenly Sword is a stunningly beautiful martial arts drama designed exclusively as a next-generation console game. The storyline concerns a girl with only a few days left to live who embarks on one final act of redemption against a king and his invading army. Heavenly Sword employs state-of-the-art technology and gameplay to take players through a roller coaster of emotion and action that truly exploits the potential of gaming as the new artistic entertainment medium.
Following the first peak of the game at this year's E3 Conference, Heavenly Sword/Ninja Theory picked up this impressive list of honours, which you can read more about on their website.
{Click here for Ninja Theory's website}

The official trailer for Mira Nair's 'The Namesake' is now online. The film is set for release in the Autumn of this year, and features an original score by Nitin Sawhney.
{Watch the Trailer here}

{Official website}

German Director Franz Osten's 1929 classic 'A Throw of Dice' will be brought back to life at London's Barbican Theatre on April 21st, 2006 courtesy of Nitin Sawhney, special guest musicians, and the London Symphony Orchestra.

A Throw of Dice is the third silent film in a trilogy by Franz Osten, seen by many as one the finest and most accomplished directors of all time. The film has not been on general release for over 70 years and is an undiscovered treasure from the British Film Institute Archive.

Based on the pivotal gambling episode from the Maharabata 'A Throw of Dice' is a love story that tells the story of Ranjit and the nefarious Sohat, two kings with a passion for gambling and the same woman, Sunita. One day Ranjit wagers everything in a crooked game of dice and loses it all, his crown and Sunita (his bride to be) and is forced to become the scheming Sohat's slave. Through a turn of fate Sohat's evil deeds are uncovered and undone, and as a result, he hurls himself off a cliff into the raging rapids below. Sunita and Ranjit are reunited, finding true love.

A Throw of Dice - World Premiere
FRIDAY APRIL 21, 2006

:THE BARBICAN THEATRE:
Barbican Centre
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DS 
Doors open:  7 PM

Box Office:
+44 (0)20 7638 8891
9am-8pm daily

Nitin Sawhney will be making a special guest appearance on Sunday November 27th at London's Astoria to support the Stop the war Coalition alongside Imogen Heap, Brian Eno, and The Rachid Taha Band.  He will perform 3 acoustic tracks on the night.  Eclectic Method will also be in the house, serving up their unique audio/visual experience. 

The gig's purpose is to raise money to support military families who are seeking an independent inquiry into the legality of the war and who have been refused legal aid. They need thousands of pounds to be able to continue their action which will force Tony Blair and his cohorts into the witness box.

Stop the War Coalition is the main organised opposition to the Government’s war policies; capable of putting hundreds of thousands of people onto the streets and represented in most cities and towns across the country.

Bring The Troops Home
SUNDAY 27 NOVEMBER

:THE ASTORIA:
Charing Cross Road, London
Doors open:  7 PM
 
Tickets: £20, from
See Tickets: 0870 0603 777  
Stargreen 020 7734 8932
Ticketweb 0870 0600 100
Firstcall 0870 906 3838
Ticketline 0161 832 111
www.seetickets.com,  www.ticketweb.co.uk,  www.ticketline.co.uk, www.lastminute.com,  www.meanfiddler.com,
(or without extra charge at Astoria or Jazz Cafe Camden - cash only.)

{Stop the War Coalition}

Zero Degrees has now concluded its run at London's Sadler's Wells Theatre. The dance received rave reviews from the British press and was undoubtedly the hottest ticket in town.

The Times
Sawhney's exciting score takes a journey of its own, from visceral, sensuous rhythms that burst with life, to beautiful, plangent melodies that linger in the air like the spectre of death....There are times when Zero Degrees may be too oblique, but all doubts are erased by its ending. Khan starts to quiver, then shake with such a force that you fear for his safety. It's almost as if his memories have overwhelmed him. Larbi carries him off stage, leaving us with two inanimate dummies and Sawhney's ineffably beautiful music.

The Guardian
Sawhney's score is a superbly eloquent piece of theatre music, powerful without being macho, beautiful without a shiver of mawkishness.

The Observer
Sawhney's score reflects Asian, Arabic and contemporary musical influences. Instruments take over from spoken words as the dancers' hand-and-arm gestures become intertwined in Moorish arabesques....The ending abandons the stage to our imaginations and Sawhney's keening music.

The Independent
Sawhney's music - generated live on stage behind a screen - is gloriously varied and affecting, ranging through swooning melismas on Indian sarod, to Asian dub and classical string trio.

The Telegraph
Sawhney's music gently summons up Indian songs and memories...The climax is hugely moving, sentimental and visionary.

'His most free-flowing, natural and effortlessly impressive album to date!' ***** THE TIMES

'Ambitious and accessible, Philtre rocks all the boats and ticks all the boxes!' ***** THE SUN

'Philtre is amazing!' ***** DAILY STAR

'A record that recognises no boundaries.' ***** SONGLINES

'His most assured, relaxed and successful work yet.' **** THE GUARDIAN

'Big, bold and beautiful' **** DAILY EXPRESS

'Philtre is FULL of surprises.' TIME OUT LONDON

'Sawhney has produced a beautifully balmy album.' DAILY TELEGRAPH

'Playful and upbeat.' OBSERVER MUSIC MONTHLY

'Bewitching & vivid' Q MAGAZINE

'Well worth the wait!' MUSIC WEEK

Philtre is available to purchase by pre-order NOW on Amazon.co.uk and
HMV.co.uk, upfront of release!

We are pleased to announce that 5 tracks from Philtre will be exclusively available to download at the iTunes Music Store from April 4th!

The 5 tracks will cost å£3.95 and the first 500 customers will receive an exclusive, limited edition 3 track CD of previously unreleased live tracks from "Nitin Sawhney: Live at Royal Albert Hall, 2001."

THE 5 PHILTRE TRACKS ARE:

1. Journey
   (Vocals - Victor Duplaix)
2. Mausam
   (Vocals - Reena Bhardwaj &
    Murtaza Khan)
3. Dead Man
   (Vocals - Fink, Jayanta Bose &
   Reena Bhardwaj)
4. Noches En Vela Part 2
   (ft. Ojos de Brujo)
5. The Search
   (Vocals - Reena Bhardwaj)

HOW TO ENTER:

In order to claim the free 'Nitin Sawhney: Live At The Royal Albert Hall' CD, purchasers must buy all 5 tracks and forward their proof of purchase email to:

{receipt@v2music.com}

The first 500 customers to email in will receive an exclusive - limited edition - three track CD promo of previously unreleased live tracks from Nitin.

On 2 May all 17 tracks of the new album Philtre will be available on iTunes for å£9.99 and this promotion will be discontinued.

Due to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances we regret to inform you that Nitin Sawhney's show at Buxton Opera House, scheduled for this Saturday, February 26th has been cancelled.

This does not affect the forthcoming PHILTRE tour in May/June of this year.

Nitin Sawhney headlines Bobby Friction's (Radio One) first ever monthly club night at London's Cargo. Nitin will be on stage with Aref Durvesh (tablas/percussion) and Jason Singh (beatbox) for a club set that will smash the dancefloor to pieces. Nitin will also be playing exclusive tracks from the new album, Philtre.

Don't miss this show....!

Nitin Sawhney
Philtre
Released May 2nd, 2005
V2 Records

To most artists, two years between albums means just enough time to tour, take a break somewhere sunny and write and record a new set of songs. Not so Nitin Sawhney. Since the release of his last studio album, 2003's Human, Sawhney has consolidated his position as Britain's most versatile musician with an impressive array of projects. He returned to DJ'ing with a vengeance, playing major cities across the world, including a packed appearance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, released "All Mixed Up" (an album of his own work remixed by other artists), and compiled "Fabric.Live 15" for London superclub Fabric. He composed classical scores for The City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and the Britten Sinfonia, with whom he toured the UK, easily selling out London's Royal Festival Hall. Sawhney also composed soundtracks for more than half a dozen films (Sawhney was a BAFTA judge this year) and several high profile TV productions (one of which won him an Ivor Novello award nomination). With all this, he still found time to write, score, and direct workshops for his first ever play commissioned by the Royal National Theatre.

This overdriven blaze of activity attracted the attention of CAA, arguably Hollywood's most powerful film agency, who signed Nitin to their composer roster earlier this year (alongside Missy Elliot, Alicia Keys, and Marilyn Manson).

If it sounds like there was little time left for Philtre, Sawhney's seventh studio album in 11 years, the musical maverick insists the opposite was true. Inspired by elements of all his recent projects, in particular his return to DJ'ing, Sawhney collated ideas for the album over several months last year and by the time he locked himself away to record, found the music flowed more easily than ever.

The result is an astonishing collection of songs that take the listener on a journey through global club culture, Indian classical music, Bengali folk, traditional flamenco, blues, old soul and R&B. On Philtre, drum'n'bass beats rub shoulders with sitars, flutes float over classical piano. Hip-hop, scratching, trip-hop, castanets and flamenco guitars sit alongside hypnotic strings and funky basslines. For vocals, Sawhney has sourced his strongest line-up to date, with Philadelphia-based Vikter Duplaix, Bollywood soundtrack star Reena Bhardwaj, Spanish collective Ojos de Brujo, Ninja Tune's Fink and human beatbox Jason Singh joining regular collaborators Tina Grace, Jayanta Bose, Taio and the soulful Sharon Duncan, as well as striking new discovery Jacob Golden and, on Rag Doll, even Sawhney's mum.

The diversity of styles and sounds on Philtre will come as no surprise to fans of the man who, in his teens studied Western and Indian Classical Music, flamenco guitar, and jazz piano, before playing in punk and rock bands, jazz outfits and eventually The James Taylor Quartet. While Sawhney's previous albums have devoured these and many other influences, sonically, Philtre raises the bar. The production, programming and arrangements are Sawhney's best yet and subtle links between songs give the album the feel of a film soundtrack or DJ set.

 "With every new album, I try to use what I've learnt since the last one," says Sawhney, "and this time, I had so many different experiences to draw from. From working with an orchestra, I learnt more about building a song and playing with a sense of scale. From DJ'ing, I saw how changing the speed of a song or using different rhythms can impact on an audience. From working with film directors, it was how a certain sound can evoke a mood or emotion. All those experiences have improved me as both a musician and a producer. There are things I've done on this album I couldn't even have attempted two years ago."

Perhaps the biggest step on for Sawhney is in terms of beats. On Philtre, as on his previous albums, the songs have an intimate, emotional feel, but this time, they are driven by infectious grooves capturing the relentless energy of a dancefloor. In keeping with the music, lyrically, the album is largely upbeat and optimistic.

"I didn't want to be political," says Sawhney, who admits to being left-wing and has a political opinion on almost any subject you could mention. "I got so sick of hearing all these justifications for us going to war and being bombarded with misinformation. I was reading about global warming and it felt as though people were becoming almost a virus on our planet. It seemed to me that music is a universal way of getting us through all the daily crap. Philtre means 'healing' or 'magic' potion and that's how I feel music.

"On Rag Doll, my mum reads a lovely poem she wrote in Hindi. It's very simple. It's about a woman walking by the River Ganges. She has nothing and she doesn't know where she's going. Then she leans down to the river and sees a firefly, which gives her this sense of hope and freedom. That became a theme to the album. The world at the moment is a very dark place, but every day I see hope in unexpected places. It gives you a good feeling for the future."

Certainly, the future of music is safe in the hands of Sawhney. From the funky, Meters-inspired Flipside to the fiery fiesta that is Noches En Vela (Part 2), from the old soul of Throw to The Search's frantic finale and from the sweet, delicate Spark to the lush, multi-tracked Void, Philtre is a sublime reminder of the possibilities of music. Wildly ambitious, yet instantly accessible, pilfering the past and looking to the future, with Philtre, Sawhney has upped the ante all over again.

Nitin Sawhney DJ Set
25 Feb (Friday)
Medicine Bar
Birmingham

Nitin Sawhney Live
[CANCELLED]
26 Feb (Saturday)
Four Four Time Festival 2005
Buxton Opera House

Nitin received some fantastic reviews from The Guardian, The Times, The Independent, The Evening Standard & The Telegraph for his show with Britten Sinfonia last Wednesday!

Click {here} to read them.