麻豆约拍

To introduce myself, my name's Nitin Sawhney and I live and breathe music. I have done since I was a kid. I grew up playing everything from Chopin to Bill Evans on the piano, trained as a flamenco, rock and jazz guitarist, learned to play tabla, drums and bass and how to compose for orchestras. I was in a rock band, a funk band, a youth orchestra, a jazz quartet and a punk band at school.

Every spare moment of every day was spent either playing music or listening to it till I was eighteen.

After university, I played and listened to as much music as I could. I now write for films, television, theatre, dance, video games and anything else that needs a soundtrack. I am happiest making albums or touring with my band.

I am open to just about any category of music there is...

...With one exception...

I never particularly got on with the term "world music". It always felt like an excuse to marginalise the most amazing sounds from all over the planet, rather than introduce anyone to the possibility of widening one's taste. If "world music" was not about marginalisation, i used to think, then why wasn't all music called "world music"?

I once personally encountered the downside of that contrived catch-all phrase in a London retail outlet.

Back in 2000, when I was nominated for a Mercury prize for my album "Beyond Skin", I remember walking into a well known record shop in Piccadilly Circus (when such anomalies were common place) and staring at the shopfront display with astonishment. The albums of eleven out of twelve of the Mercury nominees were all displayed together, giving them each a subsequent boost in publicity. Mine was the glaring omission. Without declaring my identity, I asked the shop manager why the Nitin Sawhney record was not displayed with the others. He responded by saying "oh, that's because he's world music." When I pointed out that the display included a rock album, a folk album, a classical album and several other genres not based on perceived issues of nationality, the manager merely reiterated, with increased irritation, "Nitin Sawhney sells out of world music. He's in that section." Rather than point out the irony of his intransigent position, given the album details - "Beyond Skin" released on the "Outcaste" record label - I thought I'd wait another fifteen years and mention it to you instead.

At the time I was incredibly angry. I was born and raised in England. So why should the punishment for including more than one language on my album be relegation to some obscure and geographically homogenising section of the shop? I wrote songs, I was a trained musician and composer, I grew up listening to all the same reference points as anyone else. Yet that didn't seem to matter. At the time I wandered over reticently to the "world music" section... where my album was placed alongside another three records labelled "India". I looked over the section - Three records under "Egypt", seven under "Africa" and sixteen under "Ireland". I looked around me... No one in this part of the shop... I looked over at the Mercury prize section - packed with eager customers. "Damn", I thought, "I need a strategy".

Four years ago, along with our producer - Hermeet Chadha - we formulated such a strategy in the form of an unprecedented new radio programme. "Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe" is not a "world music" show. It's simply a show about music... for anyone interested in broadening their musical palette. I love that it's on 麻豆约拍 Radio 2 in a prime time slot. I love that I get to play Paco de Lucia next to Radiohead. I love that it's been going for four series spread over four years. I love that we get to create unique bespoke collaborations for the show with everyone from Bassekou Koyate to Joss Stone. I love that it's simply about music. No categories, no boundaries. No prejudice. I want those who bemoan the “failures” of multiculturalism, or feel uncomfortable sitting next to those speaking foreign languages on public transport, to hear and enjoy this show. I want the former manager of that shop in Piccadilly Circus to listen to it so he hears, finally, that music is a universal language.

Music is too pure for prejudice. "Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe" isn't about "world music". It's about music. Pure and simple.

Nitin Sawhney is a presenter on 麻豆约拍 Radio 2.

• The last in the present series of 'Nitin Sawhney Spins the Globe' is broadcast on 麻豆约拍 Radio 2 on Monday 6 April at 10pm. You can listen to previous episodes in the 4th series .
• Find out more about Nitin Sawhney's work on the .