Q & A with Nitin Sawhney about his new series 'Accents'

Award-winning composer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter and DJ Nitin Sawhney joins Scala Radio to present a 4-part series exploring classical music from across the globe.

Nitin, who has over 20 studio albums to his name and has composed for films, videogames, dance and theatre, shares his musical inspirations and selects classical favourites from the Baroque period to present day.

Expect a calming and genre-spanning musical journey for your Sunday lunchtime featuring music by Nils Frahm, Massive Attack, Bach, MJ Cole, Zakir Hussain & Rachmaninov.

Listen to Nitin Sawhney's new series 'Accents' from 1pm, Sunday 12 July on Scala Radio.

Ahead of the first episode, we caught up with Nitin with a collection of quick-fire questions.

Tell us what you can see out of your nearest window?

Freedom and possibility.

You're presenting a new series ‘Accents’ about music from around the world for Scala Radio. Tell us what we can expect.

I wanted to present different perspectives on the idea of what classical music is and contextualise it with music from all around the world. Quite often I will be focussing on music that has resonance with my taste in classical music rather than necessarily playing music that might conform to any traditional viewpoint.

Your musical tastes are very varied - What do you find yourself drawn to when you're discovering new music?

I am drawn most to music that challenges me in a way that I was not expecting. That may be emotional, technical, cultural or contextual.

What have you been reading over the lockdown period? We're looking for recommendations.

I have been reading ‘Brit(ish)’by Afua Hirsch, ‘This is your brain on music’ by Daniel Levitin, ‘The poetry and music of science’ by Tom McLeish and ‘Quantum’ by Manjit Kumar.

What would you like to lose from your pre-lockdown life?

I would like to lose the current Government’s inability to accept responsibility for Boris Johnson’s unequivocally racist comments.

What would you most like to see change and how do we go about doing that?

The current government. Through democratic process. I would prefer a government that supports the Black Lives Matter movement and embraces inclusion, diversity and freedom of movement in a way that is reassuring to not only people of Immigrant heritage but everyone who celebrates this country as a melting pot of cultures.

What do you like about Scala Radio?

Scala Radio has a lot of musical integrity and is reinvigorating classical music without being pompous or didactic.

Apart from your Scala Radio show, what are you working on at the moment?

A film score, a TV series score and my next album with Sony Masterworks called ‘Immigrants’. I am also the Chair of the PRS Foundation and I am very excited to see what lies ahead for the future of music in the UK.

Listen to Nitin Sawhney in his new series of classical music from across the world, from Sunday 12 July at 1pm, and every Sunday three weeks after.

• nitin sawhney