Driving Multi Cultural Impact

BUILDING COMMUNITIES IS NEVER EASY, EVEN MORE SO WHEN IT INVOLVES BRINGING PEOPLE FROM AROUND THE WORLD TOGETHER FOR A COMMON CAUSE. TINA THAKRAR FINDS OUT HOW NICO DASWANI HANDLES HIS ROLE AS HEAD OF ARTS AND CULTURE AT THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM WITH EASE

- Tina Thakrar

To be exposed to multiple cultures and experiences early in life can broaden your perspective, make you appreciative of differences, and help drive your personal and professional lives better; it’s been proven time and time again for so many of us in small and big ways, and Nico Daswani epitomizes this perfectly.

As Head of Arts and Culture at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Geneva, Nico brings diverse artists and cultural institutions together to participate in dialogues on social and global issues. His current role can be traced back to his time growing up in Marseilles and London with a Sindhi father and French mother, which saw him navigating life with a vague sense of identity but an innate curiosity and understanding of different cultures.

Music and the arts weren’t Nico’s forte during his childhood, but life played out in a way that made him curious about them too. His hip-hop and hard rock-loving teenage years were soon followed by an introduction to bhajans at a relative’s house in London, and finally, his first time hearing music styles like Klezmer, Gnawa, and Gumboot at his uncle’s multi-cultural music festival in London.

“Those musicians would come from around the world, but to me it felt like they were from entirely different planets, imbued to their core with something deeply sacred, and I found it fascinating. I came of age at the turn of the millennium, when there was so much optimism in Europe for the idea of multi-culturalism. It made me inquisitive about music from around the world.”

Fast forward to the time when an adolescent Nico was pursuing a management degree in Marseille and London, with a six-month internship in Paris. Along with his uncle, Nico attended a concert by Mehr and Sher Ali, Qawwals from Pakistan, who’d come down to Paris to perform at a small venue.