New Delhi: Sitarist Anoushka Shankar, who’s settled in San Diego, California and spends most winters in India, joined us for a chat in our studios. The daughter of famous classical musician Ravi Shankar, Anoushka is in the process of working on a new album, and creating her own crossover band in India.
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While the performances during a recent tour with western music band Jethro Tull got great reviews, she received some criticism because the shows came soon after the terror attacks in Mumbai. ”There’s an element of us of being extremely deeply effected by what happened,” she says. ”We’re musicians and in the wake of something like a terrorist attack, there’s an element of me, and people like me, not wanting to stop, not wanting to inhibit your life because of something like terrorism. Because that’s what they’re trying to achieve is terror.”
About working for with great artists like Sting, Anoushka says, ”As much admiration and respect you might have for an artist you kind of have to let that go to an extent”, says Ms. Shankar. ”There is an element of just seeing the artist as they are and utilizing and enhancing that and wanting to contribute without being intimidated that it’s Sting sitting next to me!”
Finally, Anoushka is most looking forward to going back to the States to perform a concerto — the third sitar concerto ever written. All three have been written by her father, but this one was written just for her, she adds.