Prophesy

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Welcome back to Planet Eclectic.

Like his fellow World Music fusioneers Trilok Gurtu and Talvin Singh, Nitin Sawhney continues to expand his vision and the range of sounds he employs. Prophesy, his fifth album, was recorded around the world between November 2000 and February 2001. The range of musical genres here include Indian classical, rap-metal, samba, drum'n'bass, soul, rock and funk. The album features over 200 musicians including the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Community Gospel Choir, Orquestra Sinfonica Brasileira, Trilok Gurtu himself, the Rishile Primary School (Soweto) choir plus the voices of Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Chicago cabbie Jeff Jacobs. (The latter, like cabbies the world over, is not afraid to share his views on the state of the world, loudly and at length.

However, in addition to all of them, it is the power, variety and subtlety of the vocalists employed that really grabs the attention here. Natacha Atlas (who worked with Sawhney and Talvin Singh in Tablatronics), Tina Grace, the London-based Brazilian Nina Rocha Miranda, and Chicago soul man Terry Callier are very different vocalists, from very differing traditions, but Sawhney has the knack of matching arrangements and vocalists that are totally sympathetic to each other. In the wrong hands, such diversity could result in an unfocused melange or could sound like a compilation album. Sawhney makes it all gel and sound natural.

The track 'Moonrise' typifies the album. The strings and backing vocals were recorded in Rio, flamenco guitar in Madrid, other parts in Paris and London, including the vocal duet between Algerian rai singer Cheb Mami and the London-based Brazilian Nina Rocha Miranda. Yet one never gets a hint of this patchwork approach; the piece sounds integrated and coherent. His last album, Beyond Skin, was nominated for the 1999 Mercury Prize and won the South Bank Award for Best Popular Album. This raised Sawhney's profile, and created high expectations of this release. Prophesy does not disappoint. Sawhney has done it again.