It could well have won the Mercury (this being a year when Asian pop is at last decreed to be in fashion) but it wasn't released in time.

A pity, for success might have calmed Sawhney down and encouraged him to treat his work with the care it deserves. This London showcase was a frustrating affair in which he blitzed his audience with a rapid-fire display of his talent, never settling long enough on one theme or style to do it justice. He switched the mood from Indian-tinged jazz pieces (with reminders of his time with the James Taylor Quartet) to thoughtful, soulful ballads from Sanchita Farruque and others, echoes of a Bollywood musical, and bursts of Irish-Asian rap from the extraordinary JC001, who surely deserves a show of his own.

The subtlety and gentle passion of songs like Immigrant and Letting Go were almost lost in the clash, and matters weren't helped by the constant assault from an overexcited lighting man who clearly wasn't listening to the music.

Sawhney is going to be a major influence regardless of whether Asian styles happen to be in or out of fashion, but he urgently needs to develop a stage show that matches his albums.