There should be few surprises left for fans of Nitin Sawhney. a musician and composer whose skills range from flamenco guitar to revered club DJ.
The Kent-born polymath’s musical CV is a real who’s who – collaborations with Paul McCartney, Sting, the LSO, Brian Eno, Sinéad O’Connor, and Pink Floyd are just the tip of a considerable celebrity iceberg, while his actual CV includes chair of the PRS Foundation, ambassador of the Royal Albert Hall and part of the senate of the Ivor Novello Academy.
However, for ‘Identity’ – his 20th album – he has enlisted another big name, though this time it’s from the world of sport… and, it’s fair to say, current affairs.
Because former footballer and now TV presenter Gary Lineker is among those who feature on the follow-up to Sawhney’s critically acclaimed 2021 album ‘Immigrants’. And like its predecessor, it deals with the big issues. ‘Illegal’ sees Lineker recite the words: “Every human being is born with equal value. But they die with a value given or taken by the world”.
This perhaps backs up the England international’s previous public statement on human rights, which saw him relieved of Match Of The Day presentation duties when he compared asylum seeker policy launched by Home Secretary Suella Braverman to 1930s Germany.
Sawhney says of the track: “I admired the courageous stance (Lineker) took in calling out the relentless inhumanity of this government towards refugees and asylum seekers. The track ends with the words “no one is illegal” because that word has been consistently applied to desperate people seeking help.”
The album’s other guest performers hint at the broad and diverse range of Sawhney’s work across its 16 tracks, spanning multiple genres from electronic to jazz, drum and bass to trip hop, as it accommodates guest appearances ranging from Elbow’s Guy Garvey to Jess Stone via Natacha Atlas, Hak Baker and Lady Blackbird.
Sawhney adds: “The world is littered with opinions of people trying to tell us who we are. People get so vociferous in pushing their judgement and definitions of others that they often forget our common humanity. We’re all human. We all matter… and, as long as you’re not harming anyone else, the only opinion that counts in defining who you are is your own. Identity, the album, is a love letter to who we all are”.
This article originally appeared in the Blackpool Gazette.