| Anoushka Shankar | |
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 Anoushka Shankar at the Global Rhythm 15th Anniversary
Party in 2007
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| Background information | |
| Born | June 9, 1981 London, England |
| Genres | Indian classical |
| Occupations | Sitarist, composer Actress and writer |
| Instruments | Sitar |
| Years active | 1998—present |
| Website | AnoushkaShankar.com |
Anoushka Shankar (Hindi: अनुष्का शंकर), born June 9, 1981) is a sitar player and composer in the United States. She is the daughter of the legendary virtuoso, composer and Sitarist Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Rajan. Through her father, she is the half-sister of Grammy Award winner Norah Jones.[1]
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Shankar was born in London and lived between London, California and Delhi. As a teenager, she lived in Encinitas, California and attended San Dieguito Academy. A 1999 honors graduate, Shankar decided to pursue a career in music rather than attend college.[1]
Born June 9, 1981, Anoushka has been playing and studying the sitar with her father since she was nine. At age 13 she made her performance debut in New Delhi. That same year, Anoushka entered the recording studio for the first time, to play "Adarini" on her father's album In Celebration. Two years later she made her debut as a conductor on her father's Chants Of India album, produced by George Harrison. Shortly thereafter she signed an exclusive record contract with Angel/EMI, and in the autumn of 1998 her first solo recording, Anoushka, was released to critical acclaim. Anourag (2000), Anoushka's second release, expanded upon and refined what she had previously recorded, and was followed by Live at Carnegie Hall (2001), which garnered her first Grammy nomination, making her the youngest-ever nominee in the World Music category.
With three classical sitar recordings under her belt, she was in increasing demand as a touring artist, and over the next few years she established a growing international reputation as a classical sitarist, playing as many as 80 concerts per year. At this time, conscious that she was maturing all the time as a performer and composer, Anoushka decided not to make her next album until she felt she was ready.
A highlight of 2002 was the Concert for George, a tribute to the late George Harrison at London's Royal Albert Hall, in which she conducted a new composition written by her father, Arpan, which featured Eric Clapton on solo guitar. Anoushka also performed Harrison's "The Inner Light" that evening. Spreading her wings, she turned to writing and acting too: in 2002 she authored the book Bapi: The Love of My Life, an intimate biographical portrait of her father; and in 2004 she earned a Best Supporting Actress nomination from India's National Film Awards for her debut role in Dance Like a Man, the feature film by Pamela Rooks. That same year, she was chosen as one of 20 Asian Heroes by the Asia edition of Time magazine. She subsequently became the first Indian ambassador for the United Nations World Food Programme.
By 2005 the time was right for a new phase. Previously, Anoushka had recorded and performed primarily as a soloist, interpreting the music of her father. While she continued to enjoy performing in the Indian classical realm and to tour with her father (as she has done ever since), on Rise, her fourth album, she composed, arranged and produced her own music, performing with a handpicked ensemble of brilliant musicians. She was now confident enough to stretch her repertoire: "It was the first record that I composed and envisioned, so it made sense that it should represent more of the types of music I've listened to in my personal life. Before, they had always been separate from my role as a classical sitar player. But they didn't have to be so separate." Fusing East and West, employing both acoustic and electric instrumentation, the album marked a new departure for Anoushka.Rise gave Anoushka another Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary World Music category. In February 2006 she also became the first Indian to play at the Grammy Awards.
Anoushka toured extensively again in the wake of the album, forming the Anoushka Shankar Project in order to present her new non-classical ensemble compositions to a live audience. This group consists of instrumentalists from various musical styles, with changing personnel; the music always draws deeply from India's rich musical heritage, but the group serves also to maintain a clear distinction between this more experimental work of Anoushka's and her classical Indian concerts.
In 2007 Anoushka collaborated with Karsh Kale, the Indian-American producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, to jointly create the album Breathing Under Water, which showed an even deeper grasp of the fusion of Eastern and Western music. This album features a rare guest appearance by her father, and well as contributions by her half-sister, Norah Jones, Sting and others. "On Breathing Under Water I felt I could push further in riskier ways for me," explains Anoushka, "whether it was working with a string orchestra, having vocals in English, or using conventional Western song structures and chords. Karsh and I share many types of musical backgrounds, but also come from very different spaces, so we were able to make a very large record in a way that I don't think either of us could have done alone, in that it crossed all of those genres." Critics were unanimous in their praise, and the album was launched in a concert in front of an audience of 14,000 at the 2007 Stern Grove Festival.
Her work now is notable for the way she has applied her expertise as a very fine Indian classical musician, and the profundity of the Indian raga framework, to working with top-quality musicians from a range of traditions, creating innovative music that appeals to her own generation as much as to that of her father.
Today, from her twin homes of New Delhi and California, she continues to stretch out in different directions. She has made guest appearances on recordings by other artists, among them Sting, Lenny Kravitz and Thievery Corporation. Meanwhile her developing work with Western classical musicians has included duetting with acclaimed violinist Joshua Bell at the 2007 Verbier Festival. Back in 2000 she also appeared at the Evian Festival in a sitar-cello duet with Mstislav Rostropovich, and in 1998 had duetted with flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, playing both sitar and piano. She has also performed as the soloist in performances of her father's 1st Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra, while in January 2009 she was the sitar soloist alongside the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for the series of concerts premiering his 3rd Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra.
Shankar began training on the sitar with her father as a child, gave a public performance at the age of thirteen, and signed her first record contract at 16.[1]
She released her first album, Anoushka, in 1998. Later, in February 2000, Shankar became the first woman to perform at The Ramakrishna Centre in Kolkata. Both Shankar and her half-sister, Norah Jones, were nominated for Grammy awards in 2003.[1]
Shankar, in collaboration with Karsh Kale, released Breathing Under Water on 28 August 2007. It is a mix of classical sitar and electronica beats and melodies. Notable guest vocals include her half-sister, Norah Jones, Sting, and Ravi Shankar who performs a sitar duet with his daughter.
In 2009, Anoushka started writing weekly columns for HT City, the lifestyle supplement of Hindustan Times. These columns appear online on social network Desimartini [2]
On 29 November 2002, she performed and conducted at the Concert for George held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. It was held in memory of George Harrison and was modeled after Ravi Shankar's benefit concert with Harrison, the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh.
Shankar and Jethro Tull postponed a concert scheduled for 29 November 2008 in Mumbai [3] after the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. They reorganized the performance as A Billion Hands Concert, a benefit performance for victims of the attacks, and held it on 5 December 2008.[4] Shankar commented on this decision stating that: "As a musician, this is how I speak, how I express the anger within me [...] our entire tour has been changed by these events and even though the structure of the concert may remain the same, emotionally perhaps we are saying a lot more." [5]
Time Magazine Young Asian Hero award PETA Humanitarian Award
Shankar is a supporter of animal rights and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). She and her father appeared in a thirty-second public-service announcement against animal suffering.[6] Shankar is a vegan.[7] Anoushka is also the spokesperson for the United Nations World food program in India.
In Celebration 9 debut recording at age 13 on her father compilation Chants of India - Conductor
ShankarRagamala Live at Carnegie Sting's Album Book of my life Concert for George, Performer and conducter Mideival Pundits Jazzmin- Thievery Corporation Versions
Healing the Divide
Radio retaliation London Undersound Joshua Bell - At home with friends
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   | Official site - Anoushka Shankar Online: The official web site for the daughter of Legendary Sitar Virtuoso Ravi Shankar |
| | NPR article - Anoushka Shankar's Turn to 'Rise' : NPR Music |
| | Anoushka Shankar's Official Myspace Page - Anoushka Shankar on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads |
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