NITIN
SAWHNEY Prophesy (V2) Rating:
NNN
Rating: NNN
London producer Nitin Sawhney travelled the world putting together the follow-up to his triumphant, genre-busting Beyond Skin disc, and the sweep of Prophesy is admittedly immense. The slow-beat travelogue features everything from samba and flamenco to tabla-driven drum ‘n’ bass, Chicago soul jazz great Terry Callier to Australian Aborigine folk tunes and a choir of African school kids, and it samples everyone from street poets to Nelson Mandela. The world comes together through Sawhney’s sampler, with the DJ creating a smooth set of truly global fusion. The problem is that Prophesy isn’t a particularly compelling listen. Under the overarching agenda, Sawhney gives voice to a dozen different cultures but verges on creating one seamless, indistinct New Age soup. The chaotic and often violent cultural collisions of the real world are nowhere to be heard.
