Nitin Sawhney (born 1964) is a British Indian musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, his work combines Asian and other worldwide influences with elements of jazz and electronica and often explores themes such as multiculturalism, politics, and spirituality. Sawhney is also active in the promotion of arts and cultural matters, and is a patron of numerous film festivals, venues, and educational institutions. 　　Nitin Sawhney was raised in Rochester, Kent, England, by Punjabi immigrant parents. As a child he studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar, sitar and tabla. 　　Subsequently, he studied law at Liverpool University for a short time. 　　It was during this period that Sawhney met up with a school friend, acid jazz keyboard-player James Taylor. Sawhney then toured as part of The James Taylor 　Quartet. This experience led to him forming his own band, The Jazztones. He also joined forces with tabla player and DJ/producer Talvin Singh to form the Tihai Trio. 　　After dropping out of university, Sawhney trained as an accountant until leaving his job as a financial controller of a hotel to pursue his promising career in music. Sawhney moved to London, where he met up with old university friend Sanjeev Bhaskar; together they created the comedy team The Secret Asians. The pair were given a show on BBC Radio, which eventually grew into the award-winning BBC TV sketch show Goodness Gracious Me. Refocusing on music, Sawhney's solo career began in 1993, when he released his debut album, Spirit Dance on his own label. 　　Sawhney has scored for and performed with orchestras, and collaborated with and written for Paul McCartney, Sting, The London Symphony Orchestra, A.R. Rahman, Brian Eno, Sinead O'Connor, Jacob Golden, Anoushka Shankar, Jeff Beck, Shakira, Will Young, Joss Stone, Taio Cruz, Ellie Goulding, Horace Andy, Cirque Du Soleil, Akram Khan, Deepa Mehta, Mira Nair, Nelson Mandela and John Hurt. Performing extensively around the world, he has achieved an international reputation across multiple artistic mediums. 　　Often appearing as Artist in Residence, Curator or Musical Director at international festivals, Sawhney contributes to musical education, having acted as patron of the British Government’s Access-to-music programme, the East London Film festival and, currently, Artis as well as acting as a judge for The Ivor Novello Awards, BAFTA, BIFA and the PRS foundation. He is a recipient of 6 honorary doctorates from British universities, is a fellow of LIPA and the Southbank University, an Associate of Sadler’s Wells, sits on the board for British theatre company Complicite and in 2007 turned down an OBE for ethical reasons. In 2017, Sawhney received the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award. 　　Since 2014, the publishing interest of Nitin Sawhney’s catalog has been represented by Reservoir Media Management. 　　Sawhney has released 10 studio albums. He has received 17 major national awards for his album work and is a recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award. 　　In 1999 Sawhney released his fourth breakthrough Gold-selling album, Beyond Skin, on London's Outcaste Records, which took a prestigious Mercury Music Prize nomination and won Sawhney the coveted South Bank Show Award. After a subsequent signing to Richard Branson's V2 Records, Sawhney released the Silver-certified Prophesy in 2001, winning a MOBO Award as well as a BBC Radio 3 Music Award. Sawhney's seventh album, Philtre, was released in May 2005, taking yet another BBC Radio 3 Award and in 2008, his eighth album, London Undersound, released on Cooking Vinyl, featured artwork by Antony Gormley and performances from Paul McCartney, Anoushka Shankar, Imogen Heap and Natty, amongst many others. 　　Sawhney's 2011 studio work, Last Days of Meaning, previewed at the Royal Albert Hall in May 2011, centres on a from actor, John Hurt, and follows the metaphorical, Dickensian journey of a lonely and intransigent man. His 2013 box-set release One Zero was recorded live-to-vinyl as a celebration of ten albums releases. Nitin's tenth studio album, Dystopian Dream, was released in November 2015. 　　He produced Anoushka Shankar's Grammy nominated album “Traces of You” featuring Norah Jones, and has recently produced the artist Nicki Wells' debut album and the tenth album of concert pianist Helene Grimaud, Water. 　　Sawhney is an acclaimed flamenco guitarist and classical/jazz pianist. His musical ability to transcend cultural barriers has gained him much recognition from the classical and pop communities, leading to his unique claim to broadcasting and selling out as artist in his own right for both the BBC Traditional and Electric Proms at London’s Royal Albert Hall and Roundhouse respectively. His band has toured the world for decades and Sawhney has performed and scored in recent years with international orchestras to silent films, most notably Alfred Hitchcock's The Lodger, Franz Osten's A Throw of Dice and Naruse's Yogoto No Yume all for the London Symphony Orchestra. 　　Nitin has conducted both the London Symphony Orchestra and the Singapore Festival Orchestra and wrote his first choral piece for London Contemporary Voices Choir. He performed at London's Royal Albert Hall in September 2014 where he showcased tracks from his tenth studio album, Dystopian Dream. Sawhney musically directed a tribute to the rock musician Jack Bruce at London's Roundhouse in October 2015, and was also musical director for the show Tony Visconti: A Life in Music at London's Union Chapel in 2017 　　Sawhney, given his classical background, is an experienced and established DJ, mixing styles from Afro-beat and Dubstep to Asian breakbeat and drum 'n' bass. Performing at London's tastemaking Fabric nightclub, Sawhney has Dj-ed at The Big Chill, Womad, Womadelaide and across the world at numerous major festivals. Clubland has seen three international DJ album releases by Sawhney; All Mixed Up – The Definitive Remix Collection; Fabriclive 15 and In the Mind of... Nitin Sawhney.