Exclusive: Why her 2022 India Tour is an ‘emotional trip’ for Anoushka Shankar

Anoushka Shankar is emotionally charged to be back home soon. The British-Indian-American sitar player will be touring India in December, after a gap of three years. Her tour coincides with the 10th death anniversary of her father, sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

“I’m deeply excited about returning after this long pandemic-related gap. I’ll be bringing my children back after many years and I’m extremely excited about that too,” says the multiple Grammy Award-nominated sitar player in an exclusive conversation with The Federal ahead of the tour, which will see her perform six shows across three cities: Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi.

‘Playing my music at home’

Anoushka, who is the half-sister of American singer Norah Jones, divorced her husband of eight years, filmmaker Joe Wright, in 2018. She wrote the six songs in her 2020 EP, Love Letters — a meditation on love, desire, heartbreak, loss, and healing through loss — after her divorce. She lives in London with her two sons, Zubin and Mohan, and loves performing in India. ‘It’s always a favourite experience for me, playing this music at home, playing my music at home. I’m really excited about bringing some new music back to India,” she adds.

The 41-year-old composer and sitarist’s tour will kickstart at Good Shepherd Auditorium in Bengaluru on December 11, followed by a concert at Shanmukhananda Auditorium in Mumbai on December 16. It will conclude in Delhi on December 18 with a performance at Siri Fort Auditorium.

Anoushka will be touring to promote her new music releases and will be joined by a group of truly exceptional musicians, including British electronic musician Gold Panda (aka Derwin Decker) in interpreting the legacy of her father in the first half of her performances.

Like her father, Anoushka “feeds off” working creatively with others. On July 8 this year, she launched her latest live album, Between Us…, on German musician Nils Frahm’s Leiter Label. The LP features her longtime collaborator and Austrian Hang (handpan) maestro Manu Delago, alongside Holland’s Metropole Orkest. It is directed by Jules Buckley, English conductor, composer, and arranger.

Recorded in the Netherlands during her 2018 shows, Between Us… is her first live album since Live At Carnegie Hall (2001). It picks material from her four previous solo albums: Rise (2005), Traces of You (2013), Traveller (2015) and Land of God (2016). It also has one previously unreleased track.

Paying homage: Once upon a December

Anoushka will also pay homage to Jyoti Singh, the victim in the December 2012 gang rape and murder case during her Mumbai performance on December 16. “I’m already imagining it; it’s going to be a wonderfully emotional trip in many ways, returning after a long time. The 10th anniversary of my father’s passing overlaps with the 10th anniversary of the attack on Jyoti Singh. So, I’ll be releasing a piece of music around that as well.”

Also read: Ziro Music Festival 2022: Kochi rock to Nepali pop, 4 days of delighting the senses

While Ravi Shankar passed away on December 11, the physiotherapy student was fatally assaulted on December 16. The sitarist says that it is very strange to be in a space where she has to look back at the two things that affected her very deeply. However, her return this time is on a different note. “It’s a new time and it’s mainly a very positive experience for me to be returning: uniting with many loved ones and getting to perform,” she says.

Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar had achieved global acclaim as a musician, composer, performer, and scholar of classical Indian music. He received the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1962 for his outstanding contribution to Indian music and culture and was awarded the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian honour, in 1999. In the mid-1960s, he had come to be revered as the world’s leading musician. His preeminence was further augmented after he taught the wildly famous George Harrison how to play sitar; their creative journey paved the way for a four-disc compilation, Collaborations (2010). Shankar died in San Diego (California) at the age of 92 in 2012.

Strings that bind

Anoushka, who became the youngest and first woman recipient of a British House of Commons Shield in 1998, is also a film composer and impassioned activist. Her India show, she says, is divided into two parts of new music.

“One is a duet with the incredible electronic musician Gold Panda; it is a piece that is actually in response to my father’s work and music. We were in this together a few years ago and it’s a very different and special way that I get to interact with my father with music and that, I think, people would really enjoy.”

“In the second part, I’m playing with some incredible musicians: Arun Ghosh, Sarathy Korwar, Tom Farmer, Pirashanna Thevarajah, for my cross albums, but in new arrangements and with lots of new and exciting solos and really highlighting and showcasing these incredible musicians as well,” she says.

Ravi Shankar’s revolutionary approach to fusing different musical traditions made him world-renowned, with huge followers worldwide. His work has influenced Anoushka as an artist, but she says it’s impossible to quantify his impact on her music and how his work influenced her own in a few words.

“He’s the centre of my musical learning and my musical influence. He was my teacher from the beginning. By virtue of being his daughter, he was the person I lived with, and spent a lot of time with. So, of course, he is the greatest influence on my music,” says Anoushka, who was 13 when she made her concert debut with her father. The last three decades have seen her become the first Indian musician to perform live or to serve as a presenter at the Grammy Awards, with seven nominations under her belt.

Also read: Kashmir’s last santoor-maker reflects on his legacy, as it withers away

The late sitar maestro has left an indelible imprint on her music; a legacy that has been beautifully carried forward by the prodigal daughter. What legacy is she going to leave behind? She says she does not think in such terms. “I hope that people continue to connect with my music and that it reaches and moves people. I don’t know what I’ll second hope for,” she says.

When Ravi Shankar had died, Anoushka had been working on her seventh album. Traces of You features tracks she had composed in memory of her father. She also collaborated with Norah Jones for three tracks in the album, including The Sun Won’t Set. Jones, who had been distant from her father when he was alive, croons in a track Unsaid: “Love” wasn’t left unsaid/”Thank you” that was left unsaid/”I know you” maybe left unsaid/I don’t know what was said.

Music: A thread to Indian culture

Born in London, Anoushka spent most of her time shuttling between London and Delhi. She says that music was really important throughout. “I grew up between London, India, and America and music actually was the thread that really connected me to my culture and my heritage. More than anything, it was my living experience of India and Indian culture. Music obviously made me incredibly proud; having the opportunity to travel around the world with my father — who was an ambassador for our music, arts and culture — and the love that he got from people around the world made me very proud.”

Anoushka tasted success early in life, but that doesn’t allow her to rest as she still has many things to accomplish. “There’s a lot that I still want to achieve, but I also feel grateful that I get to have a career, play music, and connect with people. That’s a gift and a joy and I hope I get to keep doing that. In a material sense, I would love to get to do more compositions for dance, theatre, and films,” says the performer, adding that her career has largely been made up of performing her own albums and collaborations and live tours, and it would be nice to explore compositions even more.