ANOUSHKA SHANKAR

Anoushka Shankar, the daughter of Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, made her professional debut in 1995, at the age of 13. She has performed along her father at major concert halls across the world. This obvious successor to Ravi Shankar's legacy, admits that though she has been to Chennai many times, (as her mother hails from Chennai), she has never performed here. She is also an accomplished pianist.

A born celebrity, she handles the media with aplomb. Chennaibest.com speaks to Anoushka Shankar, on the eve of her first ever performance at Chennai.

It was a very nice experience, because it was my father’s 75^th birthday. All of my father’s students and a few other musicians performed that day. Somewhere in the middle of the performance, I got to play a 15-minute solo. I was very excited. Even though it was all fun, I was very nervous.

On taking up the Sitar as her instrument…

It happened gradually. Even though there was no pressure as such to take it up, it just happened naturally. I started learning at the age of about 8.

As a father he is so affectionate and doting. He is so caring and gentle. Basically, he is that way with everyone. As a teacher he is patient and understanding.

Its incredible. On the one hand, I get to be with him, watch him perform and at the same time perform with him. On the other, he is there watching me perform and he is so proud about it.

Very much.  It is basically his style. Its not exactly the same, because its me, not him. But my style and even when I improvise, the type of improvisation that I do, is completely in his style.

It was incredible. I have grown up calling them 'Uncle' and it was great to work with them.

Oh! They are so different. The piano is more of a personal experience for me,because its only for me. I rarely perform. And playing the sitar is so much more interactive. You improvise all the time and it involves more of your memory.

My mother is from this place and my initial training was in Carnatic music. Though I didn’t go very far with it, I grew up listening to M S Subbulakshmi.

They are very exciting, technical and pleasing to the casual ear. Both the styles are spiritual and I don’t think there is any other music that can compare with these.

I can possibly speak only from my own experience. In Hindustani music, the current pack is really the children of famous musicians. But I don’t see the problem of a burnout, because my parents did not really put too much pressure on me. My experience has been very well rounded. Even though I have been on tour, I haven’t really felt any pressure.

No. Actually there are a few places where there is awareness. For example, when you go to UK or the USA, people are aware of Indian classical music. My father has done his bit in promoting classical music. But still, in some parts of the world, there is this image of the exotic India with the flying carpets, and that’s about it. My generation is still not really much into classical music. So we still need to do something in this area.

Oh! There are so many. My first performance…, with Jean Pierre…, and recently at one concert there were so many other artists. Madonna was there, Bryan Adams was there. It really felt nice to be part of that group. That was memorable.

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