Sitting cross-legged with her nimble fingers vigorously dancing over her acoustic sitar, beautiful and petite Anoushka Shankar presents a serene picture. The Grammy-nominated artiste and legendary Pandit Ravi Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka is all set to release her latest album Traveller. And Vh1 Handpicked presents the live concert, with Anoushka travelling to different parts of the country to promote her album.
With Traveller, Anoushka is all set to explore the world of Flamenco, tracing its commonalities in Indian classical music, which she considers to be an intrinsic part of her life.
“Music is very primal. It’s humanity expressing itself. People remain connected to each other. In other words, it truly is the celebration of music with enormous scope for creativity,” says Anoushka.
“Flamenco is an exciting style of music. Though it comes from Spain, its roots lie in India. The album Traveller is centered on Flamenco. Some pieces are very Indian and vice-versa. I’ve tried to explore the happy feeling that the genre exudes,” says Anoushka.
Flamenco, with a very gypsy-like feel to it, is coupled with lilting folkish tunes. It has always enthralled music aficionados worldwide. “Flamenco is rhythm-based melody and immensely joyful. I wanted to bring out that essence of dancing through the music. I believe dancing is an expression of humanity and it is important. And when someone can dance to the music, it becomes doubly joyful,” says Anoushka.
For an artiste of her calibre, Anoushka modestly admits that everything about this album was challenging — right from the collaborations to executing it well. Anoushka says that it is extremely “dangerous” to work on such collaborations.
“One has to be careful and responsible in not letting the essences of either of the styles subside. One has to handle it delicately. Personally, I got to learn so much about Flamenco and it was educative in many ways. There was a lot of effort that went into this album. In the midst of all this, I was pregnant. So I had to be careful about my health as well,” says Anoushka, adding cheerfully, “The timeline was different and a challenging one — so much so that during my eighth month — I could not even sit cross-legged with the sitar.”
Being Pandit Ravi Shankar’s daughter, Anoushka says it is impossible to quantify his meaning in her life. “Like any father, he is extremely supportive and encouraging. He is very caring too. But as my teacher, he tells me where I go wrong, corrects me and gives me constructive feedback after my performances. He is truthful,” says Anoushka.
Despite having performed worldwide with her father and won so many awards, Anoushka says that she never takes the stage for granted.
“Honestly, it’s just a bit of prayer. One can never take anything for granted about what’s going to happen on stage. Sometimes I am nervous, and sometimes I am not. But I never get cocky. I just go with the hope that it’s going to be good,” Anoushka explains. She says that there are times when she doesn’t practice in the very technical sense. “You know, those days when you just want to be. I simply play freely on the days when I’m not practising a particular repertoire,” she says.
For someone who has lived across continents and travelled extensively, Anoushka says that she has seen a lot of technological changes in the music scene in India.
“There a lot of interesting developments taking place. I have been using the acoustic sitar since I wanted the traditional sound and tradition, but many are developing different versions of the sitar. There are new possibilities out there and I can see interesting innovation taking place. I am aware of the fact that classical music thrives with a lot of difficulty, but somewhere the picture is changing and new possibilities
are emerging,” she says.
On a personal front, Anoushka says that her son Zubin is quite a handful and enjoys music. “Motherhood is a new world, but I am still me. Being a mother is challenging and exciting. You need to look into a lot of things. Zubin loves music and I guess that comes from the time he was inside me. He is responsive to it and loves to bang on the table,” she laughs.
She adds that she believes in a healthy balance of planning and living the moment. “One has dreams and aspirations and one goes about working towards them. But that doesn’t mean one doesn’t enjoy the moment,” she says.