Friday, November 25, 2011

Maestro of Sitar... Pt. Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar's album Breathing under waret (2007)


I dont know since when i started falling for sitar... the haunting Hameer.. dheen thal's... the chirping sounds in successions mastered by the great Pt. Ravishankar. I had this privilege once in my life to hear him perform in Chennai for some concert organized by SPIC alongside his daughter Anoushka.

I just happened to hear from a tube with she playing in the prestigious Carnegie Hall... I must say truly she has proven the old saying to emulate her father coming of age showing great maturity. Even I had bee blamed her for being quite un-classical and showing-off more with too less of technique.

Anoushka Shankar with her father and guru Pt. Ravi shankar after a concert in 2006

At the beginning of her career, Anoushka played strictly classical sitar music and came under some criticism because she supposedly wasn't as good as her father. I must say its an unfair comparison though and also i had heard Recently the album Breathing Under Water though it was released around 2007, Anoushka has been experimenting with Indian fusion, mixing her sitar playing with more Western music.This album is a collaboration with Karsh Kale, who is an Indian producer, composer, and musician who is known for mixing Indian music with other styles.

My favourite being the oceanic part 2 (feat. ravi shankar) comes as the 12th track. I have been hearing the same song for the last 3 days putting it in a loop. Surely I guess I have a lot to catch-up.

Hopefully she'd be as famous and most importantly an ambassador of Brand India too...

Anoushka Shankar during a concert in Los Angeles