Nitin Sawhney
Beyond Skin

THE REVIEW

Monstrous talent - he plays guitar, piano, tablas divinely - Nitin Sawhney can be considered an intellectual tout court. Better yet, almost a Renaissance man, meaning that type of humanist artist who aims, as a choice, to destroy specializations and to engage with various artistic disciplines. Actor, screenwriter, writer, journalist, producer, remixer, DJ, musician, composer of soundtracks.

For this ravenous Bengali, nothing has been impossible in recent years as shown by the excellent "Philtre". "Beyond Skin" is his masterpiece dated 1999. What is striking is the flexibility to translate feelings, urges, emotions, and political positions into music with unconventional musical solutions. Additionally, the prodigious ability to bend one's talent to the song form, where two musical worlds converge, the acoustic and the electronic, in perennial contrast with each other. An elegant explosion of fragments of jazz, jungle, dub, flamenco, electronic, Indian classical music, and "London Beats". His sophisticated blend is so much that it seems like a musical summa of 4 Hero, Massive Attack, and Talvin Singh. Only immensely better. Each song is a kaleidoscope of sounds, emotions, spirituality, "real life"; a daily life often bitter and lived with suffering and nostalgia together.

All the songs would deserve mention, they are so beautiful and moving. But two are enough, masterpieces among masterpieces: "Letting Go" and "Homelands". The first is a ballad soaked in soft dub overtones, drenched in feelings, sung sublimely by Tina Grace. A story of departures, farewells, and broken hearts. It begins with a pouring rain that immerses us in an autumnal emotional state. Then a loose London groove is inserted, the acoustic guitar, and the piano in the distance delicately cushion the room where Tina Grace, in front of the rain-drenched window, sings with her heart resting on the windowsill. Tina's voice is so poignant and tinged with melancholy that it becomes irresistibly fatal for all of us, as if it were our beloved leaving. The vocal counterpoints of Jayanta Bose, a classical singer of the Bengal tradition, make the atmosphere evocative with the Indian violin biting here and there. In the finale, rhythmic dub crumbs soften the atmosphere in a most veiled and melancholic climate. Meanwhile, the rain keeps pounding and the street sounds let us know Tina has left. She's gone forever. Chilling. Perfect. "Letting Go" is a whirlwind of unforgettable emotions. And at the end, the dramatic violins of the 4 Hero string section (a precious presence throughout the album) intersect, giving the cue to "Homelands" creating an emotional unicum. On the majestic violins, the lively vocals of Nusrat Fateh’s nephews climb. A sort of ethnic-jazz scat with an impetuous progression, crossed by a flamenco guitar that soars vibrantly in the air. Then the breaks and tablas build up. The voices dissipate into echoes and counter-echoes. The effect is wonderfully bewildering. Then a female voice sets up a chorus. Again, one indulges in echoes and reverberations more elegant than ever. The flamenco guitar continues to invent itself on the fluttering violins, while Nina Miranda (yes, the fatal chanteuse of Smoke City) airs in Portuguese "fragile is the earth/just like the minds of men".

An album that was the apex of the Asian Underground. Innovative and courageous. A universal testimony or rather, a cry of a "second" generation. And of those to come.