The only artist to be comprehensively trained by her father, Anoushka has been playing and studying the sitar with him since she was nine. At the age of thirteen she made her performing debut in New Delhi — she then entered the studio for the first time to play on her father’s recording, In Celebration.
Her first solo recording, Anoushka (1998), was released to critical acclaim. The albums Anourag followed in 2000 and Live at Carnegie Hall in 2001 — the latter bringing her a Grammy® nomination in the category “Best World Music Album” (the youngest artist ever to receive that distinction). Having firmly established herself in Indian classical music, Anoushka then began experimenting with a fertile crossover mix of Indian and Western musical styles, first on her Grammy®-nominated, self-composed and -produced Rise, then on the collaborative project Breathing Under Water.
She has appeared on several other CDs, including Sting’s Sacred Love, Nitin Sawhney’s London Undersound, Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project, and Joshua Bell’s At Home with Friends.
Anoushka has spent much of each year since the age of fourteen touring Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America, as a classical sitarist — and since 2007 with her experimental group “The Anoushka Shankar Project”.
A champion of her father’s sitar concertos, in 1997 she performed Concerto no. 1 with Zubin Mehta and the London Symphony Orchestra, presenting it more recently at the Prague Spring Festival and at the London Proms with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. In 2009 she premiered Concerto no. 3 to great acclaim at Carnegie Hall with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. Other premiere performances of her father’s works include a composition for sitar and cello with cellist Mstislav Rostropovich at the Evian Festival in 1999, Mood Circle at the World Economic Forum in New York in 2002, Nivedan at the Healing the Divide benefit in New York in 2003, and the Symphony with the London Philharmonic at the Royal Festival Hall in 2010.
In recognition of her artistry and musicianship, the British Parliament presented Anoushka with a House of Commons Shield in 1998. The Indian Television Academy, Asmi, and India Times chose her as one of four “Women of the Year” in India in 2003 — and in 2004 she was selected as one of twenty “Asian Heroes” by the Asia edition of Time magazine.
Tracklist:
01. The Sun Won’t Set 3:35
(feat. Norah Jones)
written by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney
lyrics by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney
Vocals Norah Jones • Sitar Anoushka Shankar
Guitar Nitin Sawhney • Ghatam Pirashanna Thevarajah
My father’s first name, Ravi, means “sun” in Sanskrit. In the months before he passed away, this song was a way for me to express my unwillingness to let him go.
02. Flight 3:38
written by Anoushka Shankar
arranged by Nitin Sawhney
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Hang Manu Delago • Cello Ian Burdge
Programming and String Arrangement Nitin Sawhney
The melody I play on sitar here originated as a line I contributed to a track by my dear friend Gaurav Raina of the MIDIval Punditz. It haunted me for weeks, and I just had to develop it further. It evolved into this, and two of the other songs with connected themes on this album: The Sun Won’t Set and Fathers.
03. Indian Summer 4:54
written by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Piano and Programming Nitin Sawhney
When Nitin and I wrote this piece together in the summer of 2009, I was just in the process of falling in love with my husband-to-be. I’d met Joe whilst he was in New Delhi researching a film called Indian Summer. The film never happened, but we’d already met because of it, and didn’t mind.
04. Maya 5:05
written by Anoushka Shankar and Manu Delago
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Hang Manu Delago • Cello Ian Burdge • Programming Nitin Sawhney
Hindu philosophy says the world is an illusion. What if that were less literal than it seems? When I’m full of love, or steeped in creativity, life feels more real than when I’m caught up in trivialities to which I assign imaginary worth. May I always turn towards that which is creation, truth, and love.
05. Lasya 4:39
written by Anoushka Shankar
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Hang Manu Delago • Udu Bernhard Schimpelsberger
Mridangam, Moorsing and Vocals Pirashanna Thevarajah • Tanpura Kenji Ota
When will our world have a safe and respectful, celebratory balance of male and female power? The name Lasya refers to the Hindu goddess Parvati’s Cosmic Dance, a feminine and graceful “yin” response to her consort Shiva’s powerful and masculine Tandava.
06. Fathers 2:30
written by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Piano Nitin Sawhney
As we worked together on this album, Nitin and I were both dealing with emotions around our ill fathers, and I was also, separately, moved to watch my husband become a father to our baby boy. Strangely and sadly, both Nitin’s father and my own subsequently passed away only a few months apart. With this song I offer my deepest respects to them both.
07. Metamorphosis 4:47
written by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney
Sitar and Vocals Anoushka Shankar • Vocals Anil Narasimha and Sandhya Chandrachood
Shehnai Sanjeev Shankar • Tabla Tanmoy Bose • Tanpura Kenji Ota
Bass Guitar and Programming Nitin Sawhney
When does change happen? Does it happen imperceptibly over a period of time, or is it one specific moment during which we cross the divide? Do we die within a part of a second as the last breath leaves our body, or are we continually moving ever closer to the moment at which we cross over into the unknown? The shloka featured here is the “Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra”, one of the Vedas’ most sacred verses, often recited at the moment of passing.
08. In Jyoti’s Name 3:33
written by Anoushka Shankar
Sitar Anoushka Shankar
Mridangam and Ghatam Pirashanna Thevarajah • Tanpura Kenji Ota
Sexual violence is something that has always left me deeply saddened and angry. I turned to this song as an expression of my sadness, anger and solidarity with people who have experienced violence and the trauma that accompanies it. The raga this song is based on is the incredibly challenging, compelling and powerful Shree.
09. Monsoon 3:40
written by Anoushka Shankar
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Tanpura Kenji Ota • Programming Nitin Sawhney
When I play the raga Manj Khamaj I feel deeply connected to my father, as it was always one of my favourite ragas to hear him play. Nitin and I decided to leave the sitar’s sweetness and melancholy exposed by avoiding any rhythmic or melodic accompaniment other than a tanpura’s drone.
10. Traces of you 3:45
(feat. Norah Jones)
written by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney
lyrics by Anoushka Shankar and Nitin Sawhney
Vocals Norah Jones • Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Tabla Tanmoy Bose • Glockenspiel Manu Delago
Guitar, Bass Guitar, Percussion, Ukulele and Programming Nitin Sawhney
People who have gone are still here in us. Places we came from are carried to the places we go. The creative spark that generated us all is alive in every birth, in every loving heart, and in every newly sung song.
11. River Pulse 3:04
written by Nitin Sawhney
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Cello Ian Burdge
Ghatam, Shaker Percussion and Moorsing Pirashanna Thevarajah • Tabla Aref Durvesh
Guitar and Programming Nitin Sawhney
Nitin once told me my father’s playing had inspired the writing of this song. It feels apt, therefore, to present it here as a sitar-guitar duet.
12. Chasing Shadows 8:17
written by Anoushka Shankar and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt
arranged by Anoushka Shankar
Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Tabla Tanmoy Bose
Mridangam, Ghatam and Kanjira Pirashanna Thevarajah
Bansuri Ravichandra Kulur • Shehnai Sanjeev Shankar • Tanpura Kenji Ota
Years ago I recorded my father’s disciple, the wonderful Vishwa Mohan Bhatt, playing the main lines of this composition, but eventually couldn’t use the piece on the album I was working on at the time. I developed the piece, adding improvised solos and an intricate call-and-response ending, and began presenting it live. It has been one of my favourites to perform ever since. It’s lent itself beautifully to varied instrumentation; here, I’ve presented it with a more classical Indian arrangement, featuring musicians I’ve worked with for many years and love dearly.
13. Unsaid 4:28
(feat. Norah Jones)
written by Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones
lyrics by Anoushka Shankar
Vocals and Piano Norah Jones • Sitar Anoushka Shankar • Cello Ian Burdge
String Arrangement Nitin Sawhney
