Amazon.co.uk Review Human is the sixth album by Mercury Music prize nominee Nitin Sawhney, whose career has ranged from helping devise the comedy series Goodness Gracious Me to writing for Sinead O'Connor. In between, he has made a series of albums in which he has reconciled his experiences as a British-Asian with his internationalism, his ethnic roots with the eclectic musical environment in which he has found himself. Despite the numerous guest artists it features, from Blur collaborator Alani to Natacha Atlas, Human is Sawhney's most personal album to date.
Inspired by a reading of William Blake's "Songs of Innocence and Experience", Human is essentially autobiographical, commencing with "The River", an allusion to the Ganges and the life and death cycle, moving onto his often difficult British upbringing in which he experienced racism via Enoch Powell's speeches, physically in the playground and even from his teachers (one of whom, he learned, was a National Front member). Disillusionment dawns but then, as he's enriched by this grim wisdom, optimism springs anew.
All this is tracked musically by a mosaic of styles (Sawhney deplores the term "fusion", with its implication that certain things don't "naturally" belong together), ranging from flamenco to electronica. Although never abrasive, Human is a ruminative album which doesn't leap out at you--you must come to it. Nonetheless, highlights include "Rainfall" (reminders of Stevie Wonder) and "Heer", an ancient raga whose delivery here is couched in movingly desolate tones. --David Stubbs
Outstanding spiritual music. 




I love this CD. Favourite track - FRAGILE WIND. I disagree with the people who think this is weak or easy listening. I find this album bueatiful and deeply brave in its mixture of popular music, multi-ethnic sounds and deeply personal lyrics. And whoever thinks it has no cultureal references doesn't know what he is talking about. This album is full of the Bagavad Gita, Gnosticism and all other visionary spiritual movements. Very special.
He's done better 




Very good album, but not his best. If this is the first you hear, don't be put off. The man is a genius and his older work is the kind of music you don't hear often enough. Beautiful, soulful and original. The kind of stuff that can really turn your day around from bad to 'what a wonderful world'.
New to Nitin Sawhney 




As the title states I am new to this artists work and bought the album purely on the reviews of other people on this site and also the cheap price of it.
Overall I was fairly impressed with the tracks, they were variant enough to keep me interested but not oustanding enough to make me give it any more than 3 stars.
A fairly pleasing album to listen but nothing outstanding or despartely new.
Hypnotic 




That's the word I would use. I love this CD, it's so dreamy, mesmerising and calming.
A big disappointment 




This is the first Nitin Sawhney CD I've bought and could well be the last. There are practically no cultural references here except the sound bites between tracks. The rest is awful unimaginative easy listening that is untaxing and ultimately boring.