Main content

Music is escapism with Nitin Sawhney, Tim Burgess, Nainita Desai and Ayanna Witter-Johnson

Nitin Sawhney, Tim Burgess, Nainita Desai and Ayanna Witter-Johnson discuss how their family and cultural history impacts their creativity.

Nitin Sawhney, Tim Burgess, Nainita Desai and Ayanna Witter-Johnson discuss how their family and cultural history impacts their creativity, being conscious of who they鈥檙e representing when creating, and how their output is a reflection of their changing identities.

Producer, composer, and DJ Nitin Sawhney grew up studying the piano, guitar, sitar and tabla, and released his debut album Spirit Dance in 1993. Since then he has scored music for theatre, dance, video games and cinema, including the 成人快手 TV series Human Planet. He鈥檚 also produced albums for the likes of Helene Grimaud and Anoushka Shankar, conducted and composed for the London Symphony Orchestra, and had his own 成人快手 classical Prom. He鈥檚 also DJed at world-renowned London nightclub Fabric and has worked with Paul McCartney, Nelson Mandela, Joss Stone, Annie Lennox, Sting and Mira Nair. His new album Identity will be coming out this year on October 13th.

Tim Burgess is a singer, musician, and record label owner, best known as the frontman of influential English rock band the Charlatans. He鈥檚 enjoyed an incredibly successful career in music, from releasing hit singles throughout the 90s to exploring the fabric of pop and rock in his books, as well as his ever-popular Tim鈥檚 Twitter Listening Party events on social media.

Nainita Desai is an award-winning composer of film, television and video game music with a background in sound design. She creates powerful, emotive scores, and moves seamlessly from working with orchestras to using her collection of custom-made instruments. Some of her recent projects include The Reason I Jump, an immersive cinematic exploration of neurodiversity, and the Oscar-nominated documentary For Sama.

Ayanna Witter-Johnson is a composer, singer and cellist whose music crosses the boundaries of classical, jazz, reggae, soul and R&B. She鈥檚 toured with the likes of Anoushka Shankar and Courtney Pine, recorded with Akala, and composed for the London Symphony Orchestra, effortlessly straddling different musical worlds.

Available now

37 minutes

Image credit

Nitin Sawhney (Credit: Suki Dhanda), Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Nainita Desai (Credit: Bas Bogaerts) and Tim Burgess

Broadcasts

  • Sat 5 Aug 2023 21:06GMT
  • Sun 6 Aug 2023 09:06GMT
  • Sun 6 Aug 2023 13:06GMT
  • Sun 6 Aug 2023 15:06GMT

Music Life Playlists

Music Life Playlists

Stars from the series give us a fascinating peek into their music collections

Podcast