Not Me in the Morning: Mungal with Nitin Sawhney and "Awake"

Today's random tune is called Awake and is by Mungal and Nitin Sawhney. Mungal is an Indian-Trinidadian musician who was born into a musical family and learned instruments, such as the harmonium, dholak and dhantal, from the age of 8. He also played clarinet, taught himself the mandolin, and at twenty-seven, he took up the sitar and practiced secretly for eight years. After revealing himself as a sitar player, he took first prize in a competition. In his 40s, he turned from Indian classical music to Indo-Trinidadian jazz-calypso. He is teamed up on Awake with Nitin Sawhney, a British-Indian musician, producer and composer. Combining Asian and other themes with jazz and electronica, he explores themes of multiculturalism, politics and spirituality. As a child, Sawhney studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar and tabla. After meeting up with acid-jazz keyboardist James Taylor and joining his quartet, he also began working with tabla player Talvin Singh and formed the Tihai Trio. After dropping out of school, Sawhney formed the comedy group The Secret Asians with friend Sanjeev Bhaskar and developed the award winning BBC comedy show Goodness Gracious Me. After, he refocused on music and released his debut album in 1993. He has released nine albums, has contributed scores for stage, screen, television and video games, and has remixed a wide variety of artists including Sting, Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney. Awake can be found on Mungal's album Dreadlocks (2000) and on the 2002 various artists compilation Putumayo Presents: Asian Groove.

Listen to songs like this and more on the KUNM Global Music Show every Monday night from 10 pm - 1 am Mountain Standard Time. Live streaming, program information and the two-week digital archive can be found at http://www.kunm.org.

Source: http://www.wrasserecords.com/Mungal_42/biography.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nitin_Sawhney;

More than Peeps: Nitin Sawhney and "Koyal (Songbird)"

As we move into June, the sounds of songbirds are in the air. Koyal (Songbird) is by Nitin Sawhney, a British Indian musician, producer and composer. Combining Asian and other themes with jazz and electronica, he explores themes of multiculturalism, politics and spirituality. As a child, Sawhney studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar and tabla. After meeting up with acid-jazz keyboardist James Taylor and joining his quartet, he also began working with tabla player Talvin Singh and formed the Tihai Trio. After dropping out of school, Sawhney formed the comedy group The Secret Asians with friend Sanjeev Bhaskar and developed the award winning BBC comedy show Goodness Gracious Me. After, he refocused on music and released his debut album in 1993. He has released nine albums, has contributed scores for stage, screen, television and video games, and has remixed a wide variety of artists including Sting, Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney. Koyal (Songbird) can be found on Sawhney's 2005 album Philtre, and on the 2005 various artists compilation Putumayo Presents: Asian Lounge.

Self-Affirmation: Nitin Sawhney and "Accept Yourself"

Self-acceptance is the theme of today's random tune. Accept Yourself is by Nitin Sawhney, a British Indian musician, producer and composer. Combining Asian and other themes with jazz and electronica, he explores themes of multiculturalism, politics and spirituality. As a child, Sawhney studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar and tabla. After meeting up with acid-jazz keyboardist James Taylor and joining his quartet, he also began working with tabla player Talvin Singh and formed the Tihai Trio. After dropping out of school, Sawhney formed the comedy group The Secret Asians with friend Sanjeev Bhaskar and developed the award winning BBC comedy show Goodness Gracious Me. After, he refocused on music and released his debut album in 1993. He has released nine albums, has contributed scores for stage, screen, television and video games, and has remixed a wide variety of artists including Sting, Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney. Accept Yourself can be found on Sawhney's 2013 album OneZero.

I Never Learned to Fly One: Nitin Sawhney and "Kite"

Today's song is called Kite. It is performed by Nitin Sawhney and features Soumik Datta and Nicki Wells. Nitin Sawhney is a British Indian musician, producer and composer. Combining Asian and other themes with jazz and electronica, he explores themes of multiculturalism, politics and spirituality. As a child, Sawhney studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar and tabla. After meeting up with acid-jazz keyboardist James Taylor and joining his quartet, he also began working with tabla player Talvin Singh and formed the Tihai Trio. After dropping out of school, Sawhney formed the comedy group The Secret Asians with friend Sanjeev Bhaskar and developed the award winning BBC comedy show Goodness Gracious Me. After the show ended he refocused on music and released his debut album in 1993. He has released nine albums, has contributed scores for stage, screen, television and video games, and has remixed a wide variety of artists including Sting, Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney. He also has his own world music show on BBC Radio called Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe. Soumik Datta, a sarod player, is being called one of the biggest new talents in Britain. Nicki Wells is a singer/songwriter and composer who is featured vocalist in Sawhney's band. Kite can be found on Sawhney's 2011 album Last Days of Meaning.

Self-Esteem: Nitin Sawhney and "Accept Yourself"

One thing that has been a problem for me throughout my life is self-esteem. An artifact of my dysfunctional family past, it has dogged me throughout my life. I don't exactly put myself down, though I've even been known to do that on occasion, but I also don't really give myself any credit for things that I've done - even when others praise me. I deflect, I say that it's nothing, and don't accept any kudos. Over the years I've been working on being less critical of myself, and more accepting of the opinions of others about me. Yet, I still find myself at the age of 51 unable in many situations to "toot my own horn." All the praise of others are nothing unless one can praise oneself. All criticisms of others are magnified when one is too self-critical. To be at peace with oneself, one must accept oneself. It's a lesson I'm still learning.

Self-acceptance is also the theme of today's random tune from our archive. Accept Yourself is by Nitin Sawhney, a British Indian musician, producer and composer. Combining Asian and other themes with jazz and electronica, he explores themes of multiculturalism, politics and spirituality. As a child, Sawhney studied piano, classical and flamenco guitar and tabla. After meeting up with acid-jazz keyboardist James Taylor and joining his quartet, he also began working with tabla player Talvin Singh and formed the Tihai Trio. After dropping out of school, Sawhney formed the comedy group The Secret Asians with friend Sanjeev Bhaskar and developed the award winning BBC comedy show Goodness Gracious Me. After, he refocused on music and released his debut album in 1993. He has released nine albums, has contributed scores for stage, screen, television and video games, and has remixed a wide variety of artists including Sting, Jeff Beck and Paul McCartney. He also has his own world music show on BBC Radio called Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe. "Accept Yourself" can be found on Sawhney's 2013 album OneZero. It sounds like he doesn't have any reason to be self-critical.

I really like this song! Sawhney's guitar playing, mixed with Indian flute and tabla, as well as the lovely voices of the three women make this song one that you'll listen to over and over.