Nitin Sawhney: Orbiting with Friends
Composer Nitin Sawhney joined us for The Riff Questionnaire before Orbiting Orbital premiered in Oxford.
 | By Lucy Cheung 08 November 2026 |
Last night, I travelled to Oxford for a rather unusual world premiere: Orbiting Orbital, a project conceived by British composer Nitin Sawhney. Inspired by Samantha Harvey’s Orbital, winner of the 2024 Booker Prize, it brings together Sawhney’s newly composed oratorio Drifting and images of the Earth captured by photographer Mary McCartney. The premiere took place at the University of Oxford’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities.
A composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ, Sawhney has forged a career spanning Indian classical music, jazz, flamenco, electronic music, drum and bass and orchestral composition. His work also extends across film, television, dance, theatre and video games. He has composed more than 70 film and television scores, including Midnight’s Children, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle and What’s Love Got to Do with It?. His musical collaborations have included Paul McCartney, with whom he co-wrote the track My Soul for his album London Undersound, and Pink Floyd, whom he joined for their 2022 charity single in support of Ukraine. He has also worked as a DJ at London’s Fabric. In 2017, he received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement, followed by a CBE in the 2019 New Year Honours. In 2024, he took on another rather different role as a judge for the Booker Prize.
It is this ability to connect with people across different creative worlds that has brought such an extraordinary gathering of artists to Orbiting Orbital.
The novelist Samantha Harvey is at the heart of the project. Sawhney first encountered Orbital while serving on the 2024 Booker Prize jury. For this production, Harvey has written six new pieces of prose, each of which Sawhney has responded to with a miniature musical composition, alongside the larger oratorio Drifting, inspired by the novel itself.
British sculptor Antony Gormley, who has known Sawhney for many years and collaborated with him on previous projects, also contributes to the production. British sculptor Antony Gormley, whose public works include the monumental Angel of the North and the rooftop installations of Event Horizon, has also contributed six specially selected drawings to the production. His work frequently explores the relationship between the human body, space and the natural world.
The photographs are by Mary McCartney, daughter of Paul McCartney. Sawhney once travelled with her to the Greek island of Delos, where she photographed the landscape. Some of the images featured in the production came out of that collaboration.
The musical programme draws on several strands of Sawhney’s own career. It revisits material from Beyond Skin, his Mercury Prize-nominated album, and brings together musicians from his Glastonbury band with the London-based Fantasia Orchestra, conducted by its founder and artistic director Tom Fetherstonhaugh. The orchestra, known for its adventurous approach to repertoire and collaboration across musical genres, previously performed Radiohead’s music at the Relaxed Prom.
Another highlight is Breathing Light, from his 2001 album Prophesy. The piece grew out of a visit Sawhney made to Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg. It incorporates Mandela’s words, “We are free to be free”, before giving way to a tabla-led drum and bass passage that gradually brings the room to life.
There is also a personal connection behind the inclusion of Blade Runner Blues, from Vangelis’s original soundtrack to Blade Runner. Sawhney has invited his old school friend James Taylor, keyboard player with the James Taylor Quartet, to perform it.
The 2024 Booker Prize jury was an extraordinary experience for Sawhney, not least because of what happened on the very day they were due to meet. On 1 March, he suffered a heart attack that morning, just as the panel was scheduled to gather. Over the following seven months, he and the other judges read 156 books. It was a demanding task, he recalled, but one he thoroughly enjoyed.
Many of the books explored personal identity in different contexts, but Orbital stood out to him from the beginning. He found it transcendent in a way that set it apart, provoking thought, reflection and meditation without ever becoming didactic. Its language was beautiful yet remarkably unadorned, while its reflections on climate change, humanity and our relationship with the planet never felt like an argument being forced upon the reader.
Having since met Harvey and spent time with her, he has come to recognise a shared approach to creativity. Neither wants art to become a form of escapism. “I don't want to make work that is escapist. I want to look at the world around me,” he said. What he particularly admires about Orbital is that it offers a quiet celebration of the planet and humanity without telling readers what to think. He also sees something deeply cathartic in Harvey’s writing, something that comes from an authentic place. “I always want to make music that comes from catharsis first, not from anything else. It has to start there, otherwise it doesn't feel like art. It doesn't feel genuine.”
His initial response to the novel was a piece of electronica, which he played to Harvey and which she liked. But on returning to the book, he felt he wanted to create something that could better capture its scale: the sense of awe at the universe we inhabit, the planet we call home and our shared humanity. He was also drawn to the space Harvey leaves in her writing. “There is space in her work, in between the words. Sometimes there is a lot of space. And there is also space in between the words that you can feel musically.”
For Sawhney, music is the most natural way of responding to other art forms. “I've spent more time playing music than I have speaking,” he said. “So it's a much more honest response for me to take Samantha's work as a provocation for me as a musician and composer than to comment on it directly in words.” He describes music as “the purest of languages”.
The heart attack also changed the way he experienced the novel. When I asked whether the experience had made its reflections on the fragility of human existence particularly personal, he agreed. “After the heart attack, I felt everything more deeply. And I think I also was much more present-minded.” He described Orbital as a perfect companion to his recovery, its perspective on the planet and human life resonating with him in a way that few other books had.
The venue itself was another highlight. Designed by Hopkins Architects, the Stephen A. Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities opened to students and staff in October 2025, before launching its public cultural programme in April 2026. At its heart is the Great Hall, a four-storey atrium crowned by a timber-lined dome beneath a glass and steel roof. There is something almost celestial about the space, with its interplay of natural light, timber and glass. The Centre is already attracting major names: Yo-Yo Ma’s solo recital in the 500-seat Sohmen Concert Hall on 2 May 2027 has sold out.
Here is Nitin Sawhney’s edition of The Riff Questionnaire.
What is the first sound you remember from childhood?
My mother humming. She would hum these beautiful Indian melodies, and they stayed with me. The first thing I remember is how light her tone was. It made me feel very happy.
Which piece of music do you wish you had written?
Wow, that's a big one. I guess one piece of music I wish I'd written is Guajira de Lucía by Paco de Lucía. I grew up playing a lot of flamenco, and I just think it's an extraordinary piece of music. His virtuosity as a flamenco guitarist was something I grew up trying to emulate as much as I could. I was in awe of Paco de Lucía, and I was very, very sad when I heard he had passed away.
But there are so many pieces that impress me for different reasons. All the spaghetti Western work of Ennio Morricone, all the scores Bernard Herrmann did for Hitchcock films, and a lot of music by Massive Attack. Teardrop is still one of my favourite tracks by any band.
Which living musician would you most like to have a conversation with or invite to dinner?
Joni Mitchell. I grew up listening to her a lot, particularly the album Blue, which was fantastic. I think she was very honest and true to her experiences. As a lyricist, she was fantastic, as well as being a great singer with an incredible voice. She just had a beautiful spirit. She's someone I'd love to have a conversation with.
And it's actually probably possible, because my publisher also publishes her. So maybe one day I'll ask if it's possible to talk to her.
What is the most misunderstood thing about music?
I think people misunderstand its relationship with the world we live in. Music comes directly from, and contributes to, the world we live in. Some people make music or evaluate music for the sake of music. But I only feel music has value when it comes from experience and catharsis.
What quality do you most appreciate in a musical partner?
Openness.
What quality do you most appreciate in a friend?
Openness.
Is there a sound you cannot bear?
My own voice trying to sing. I hate my voice so much when I'm trying to sing. That's why I work with other singers. I can sing a bit, and I'll do it if I have to, in order to get an idea down. But I hate listening to it.
What sound could you never tire of?
Water. Whether it's rain, the ocean waves, or just water in any form, it has an incredibly calming effect. It also connects with my feeling that our whole life is like spray on the ocean waves. I feel the sound of water reflects that.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Actually, a world without borders of any kind. I don't just mean geographical ones. I mean between people.
If you hadn't become a musician, what would you have become?
Possibly a writer, possibly a painter. I'm interested in all forms of creativity. I'm writing a book at the moment, which not many people know about. I also used to love drawing and painting a great deal, so I would probably have wanted to pursue that.
I also studied law and I'm qualified as an accountant, but I did that because it's kind of what Asian kids do, to keep their parents from worrying.
What is something about you that might surprise people?
Some people might be surprised that I used to write comedy and that I acted as a comedian. I also acted on stage with Akram Khan.
If you were stranded on a desert island, which three bodies of music would you take with you?
All the works of Debussy. All the works of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. And Joni Mitchell's album Blue.
| Writer |
Comments