Anoushka Shankar is a British-American sitar player and music artist. Shankar was born in London and her childhood was divided between London and Delhi. She is the daughter of Sukanya Shankar and Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who was 61 when she was born. Through her father, she is also the half-sister of American singer Norah Jones. Shankar began training on the sitar with her father Ravi Shankar at the age of eight. As part of her training, she began accompanying him on the tanpura at his performances from the age of ten, soaking up the music and becoming acclimated to the stage. She gave her first public sitar performance in February 1995 at the age of 13, at Siri Fort in New Delhi as part of her father’s 75th birthday celebration concert.
She released her first album, Anouska, in 1998, followed by Anourag in 2000. In 1999 Shankar graduated from high school with honours, but decided against university in favour of beginning to tour as a solo artist. Both Shankar and her half-sister Norah Jones were nominated for Grammy awards in 2003 when Anoushka became the youngest nominee in the World Music category for her third album, Live at Carnegie Hall. Having released three albums of Indian classical music, Shankar took several years away from recording and focused her energy on establishing herself as a solo concert performer outside of her father’s ensemble. In that time, she toured worldwide, playing an average of 50–60 concerts per year. 2005 brought the release of her fourth album RISE, her first self-produced, self-composed, non-classical album, earning her another Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary World Music category.
Shankar, in collaboration with Indian producer, composer and musician, Karsh Kale, released Breathing Under Water in August 2007. It is a mix of classical sitar and electronica beats and melodies. Notable guest vocals included her paternal half-sister Norah Jones, Sting, and her father, who performed a sitar duet with her. 2011 marked the beginning of a prolific recording and creative period for Shankar, during which time she continued to refine the sitar sound and musical ideas she had become known for. She earned a third Grammy Award nomination in 2013 for Traveller, an exploration of the shared history between flamenco and Indian classical music.
Shankar released Land of Gold (2016) – her fourth album with Deutsche Grammophon; the global refugee crisis and the intense contrast between being able to provide for her newly born second child and the sense of powerlessness to alleviate the injustice and pain happening as the world looked on provided the inspiration for this heartfelt and hopeful album. The release features different types of contributions – from the vocal of MIA and Alev Lenz, to the monologue of Remain the Sea by Veteran British actress Vanessa Redgrave. There is also a strong cinematic influence in the videos, lent by the production of film Director Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice, Atonement). Land of Gold remixes came out in the same year with remixes by Mowgli, Karsh Kale, Matt Robertson, Grain and East London-based collective Shiva Soundsystem.
The release of Love Letters in 2020 marked a different direction for Shankar. The co-produced EP is a compilation of songs written across 2018-19 and released on her new record label, Mercury KX. Shankar regularly collaborates with electronic music producer Gold Panda, percussionist Manu Delago and the Britten Sinfonia strings, all of which appeared, including Shankar, at the 2020 BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall. in November 2020, Shankar was featured on “Stop Crying Your Hear Out” as part of the BBC Radio 2’s Allstars’ Children in Need charity single. The single debuted at number 7 on the Official UK Singles Chart and number 1 on both the Official UK Singles Sales Chart and the Official UK Singles Download Chart.
