Nitin Sawhney Interview

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Where do you begin when face to face with Nitin Sawhney? An ardent musician, songwriter, producer and composer, Nitin’s creative vision is unstoppable and yet he still continues to reign the world of eclectic music.
 
A musical genius like no other, Nitin has combined the unlikeliest of genres and created hits. Having worked with countless musicians, directors and artists his creative appetite is far from being suppressed.
 
With many projects on the go, Nitin takes a breather with MyVillage trilling about his current film project, Namesake, being a film boff and life in the fast lane.
 
What enticed you to work on the film Namesake?
Well, I have known Mira (Director of Namesake) for quite a while and she has been to see me at a few of my gigs, so she kind of knew about my work. She actually warmed to the idea of a Bengali folk song I had on my album-she really like that particular track. I bumped into her by sheer coincidence in a hotel in India, she said to me if I would like to do the music for the film, so I was like, ok cool! (Laughs).
 
Were there any challenging aspects when composing the music for Namesake?
It was finding the voice of the film and the language of it that I thought was quite difficult. Mira has got a very American perspective as well as an Indian one, so it was quite difficult for me, being from England, to lock into that sound.
 
I mean in England I have got my own way of looking at the second generation / immigrant experience. It was very much a case of us both locking into common reference points and understanding each other. It took a lot because she was over in New York and I was over in London. We were constantly having phone conversations and there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with various cues. You have find the voice, vocabulary and language of the film, but also the language of Mira’s thoughts and being. As when Mira Nair makes a film it is a Mira Nair film-so it is kind of really about locking into that.

Are the concepts and ideas different when working on film scores as oppose to your own projects e.g. album?
Absolutely, when I am working on my own album I am a complete dictator. I will determine how to place sounds; I will produce completely and make sure it is exactly how I want it to be. I think that is why it is a good thing to write for films as well because it is an exercise in humility if anything, and it is also about really having an empathy and trying to understand somebody else’s perspective. It is really trying to find a common language with someone else, the director or producer. It is quite a big thing and you have to suspend your ego to a large degree when you are working on a film, whereas with an album you can completely let rip. At the same time I have always believed in collaborations and even with my own album I love collaborating with people. On my next album I will be collaborating with a range or artists and musicians, but with film work it is very much collaborating with one person, the director.
 
What were your inspirations behind the music for Namesake?
There was a lot of inspiration that I got from Bengali folk songs. I was a big fan of the Bengali film director, Satyajit Rai and his Apu Trilogy, which is one of the beautiful collections of films I have ever seen. I think there was some resonance with some of the scenes that she (Mira) had in India with Satyajit style. I really liked that and responded well to that. There were a lot of references in terms of how I was looking at the score.
 
Were there any parts of the movie you could relate to?
Yeah, there were definite moments in there where I could relate to Gogol and some of his experiences; finding his own identity as a second generation immigrant. Definitely, I felt a lot of empathy with the characters.
 
As a producer- what qualities/traits do you look for in an artist/director before you decide to work with them?
I look for somebody who can really express themselves emotionally and who isn’t afraid to do that, people who have got emotional honesty. I mean you hear it in Jeff Buckley , Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or Damien Rice’s voice, or you see it in films by Sergio Leone. It depends whose making a piece of work, you just think ok, that is a very honest and emotional response to what is going on and that is what I am always looking for in the voice. I don’t really look for singers; I look for people who can express ideas, feelings or emotions. Sometimes I will really look for somebody whose voice actually cracks when expressing what they are feeling in the song. I am not going to tidy that up because that is a very delicate moment. I am always trying to find voices or instrumentalists who can really capture the feeling or what I am looking for.
 
If you could work with any artists or director-who would it be and why?
I would love to work with Thom Yorke. I would like to work with Paco de Lucia who’s a genius flamenco guitarist. I would like to work with a number of Indian classical musicians and also some of the guys from Massive Attack. I mean a lot of the people that I have always wanted to work with, I have, which is actually really cool. I have been very lucky in that way. I am also very open to people, so it depends on what comes along. I tend to adapt to situations and get into the project that I am working on. It is about staying open and finding the voice and the ideas for the people you are working with.
 
With music being your passion-what other hobbies/or interest do you dabble in?
I do kickboxing. I do a lot of sports stuff. I also do a lot of running and things like that. I suppose I really am a film buff as I am really into films. As a film composer you end up watching a lot of films. I am a BAFTA member so I get sent a lot of movies all the time, so I am constantly watching movies or going out to the movies. I have got a pretty busy lifestyle so most of the time I am working, and if your writing symphony scores which is what I am doing at the moment that takes up a lot of your time.
 
In regards to goals and accomplishments-what’s left on your checklist?
One day I would like to direct a film but I think that is way down the line. I did actually do some directing workshops for a play that I wrote for in the National some years ago. At some point I would like to take that up again. In the meantime, I am very excited about the next album.

What other projects do you have up your sleeve?
At the moment I am working on a project about an Indian mathematician called Ramanujan. I am also working on the Mahabharata project for Saddler Wells, but I am very excited about my next album. I am going to be doing something quite unprecedented, I’ll be writing it like an orchestral score. We are thinking of doing it with the London Symphony Orchestra or the BBC Symphony Orchestra next year at the Barbican. The next album is really an exciting project and that is where my head is at right now, if I was honest. There are other things that I am doing-I am doing a score for a Brian Epstein movie, I have just done the score for a Playstation 3 game. There is also a lovely project that I have just been doing in New Zealand for a film called, A Throw of Dice which I did last year at the Barbican we will be taking this project to New York, LA, Portugal, Italy a number of different places.
 
What motto do you live by?
Just always be yourself and don’t let other people tell you what you are supposed to be or who you are suppose to be.

Read review of Namesake