Ravi Shankar, with Anoushka Shankar and Tanmoy Bose

Orpheum Theatre

Caravan World Rhythms Presentation

May 16, 8 p.m.

Unless you’re one of Vancouver’s Asian music cognoscenti, probably the only names that will come to mind are Ravi Shankar and (less likely) his daughter Anoushka, who have successfully accessed the mechanisms of global hype thanks in no small part to the father’s association with the Beatles in the late ’60s.

Both play the Orpheum Saturday in a concert sponsored by Caravan World Rhythms.

Dynasties are as potent in the arts as they are in politics. Ravi Shankar can point to two rather different scions, both seriously involved in the world of music. Anoushka follows most closely in his footsteps; her half-sister, pop luminary Norah Jones, has chosen quite a different path to fame and fortune.

Both Ravi and Anoushka are well known to Vancouver audiences, first playing here as a duo in 2005 for a sell-out crowd at the Orpheum. The following year Anoushka visited on her own with her Rise tour. In advance of that performance, I was able to chat with her about the privilege and responsibility that come with being part of the Shankar clan; with articulate candour she remarked that it was interesting to observe what she called “the celebrity phenomenon” up close as a kid.

Anoushka characterized her father as “an incredibly good teacher, equally good as a performer and a teacher — which is extremely rare. He was systematic and methodical, and yet demanding and sympathetic. He was definitely a disciplinarian, with high expectations.” Even so, her lessons “were always about loving music — and having fun.”

Anoushka has had to accept at least a modicum of criticism from purists of various stripes who can’t seem to accept her mercurial ability to switch from classical to pop, Indian to western, performer to composer. Of course, there have been times when her father’s mission to bring Indian music to the wider world has also raised eyebrows.

Not very many musicians who performed at Woodstock in 1969 are still touring. Now a great-grandfather, Ravi first attracted attention outside of Indian classical music circles through an early tour of the Soviet Union and his plangent film scores for the late Satayajit Ray’s celebrated Apu trilogy (1955–59).

Despite his association with the pop world, Shankar senior has always seen himself as a spokesperson for Indian classical music, and deplored the superficiality of Western appropriations of Indian culture and philosophy. And there’s a hard truth here: Indian classical music is complex and demanding, just like the Western European classical tradition. Standards must be maintained and connoisseurship comes with years, not hours, of commitment. Those who would popularize a great art tradition have to walk a fine line.

“If I go back in time to when I was 20,” says Shankar on his website (www.ravishankar.org), “and think about the dream and vision of what I had then for Indian classical music as a young aspiring musician, I have to admit that even though I have achieved more than I have ever dreamed of personally, I am disturbed to see the plight of it today in India.”

Shankar is a true pioneer, someone who saw early that the art of music would go global. And if where we are at the moment isn’t necessarily where he expected to be, he remains sanguine about his life and work.

“I feel lucky and blessed that even today, after being on the stage for over seven decades,” he says. “I perform to sold-out audiences, and I am overwhelmed by the way I am received by my admirers. And all this when I perform our Indian classical music!”

Special to the Sun

Anoushka Shankar explores motherhood and flamenco

Sitar master Anoushka Shankar's new 'Traveller' expresses emotions she felt during pregnancy

Dallas — The Wyly Theatre resonated, as it wonderfully does, with the strains of two rich musical traditions intertwining in a labyrinth of sonic beauty generated by sitarist Anoushka Shankar and accompanists on Saturday night. Sweet, beautiful, talented—some girls have all the karma—Anoushka embodies these qualities and some.

The performance, which is presented by TITAS, repeats tonight at the AT&T Performing Arts Center.

Daughter to world-renowned sitarist Ravi Shankar (who single-handedly brought the sitar to the world stage), Anoushka is successfully keeping the sitar front and center as a viable modern instrument. Her music allows the listener to peek into India's ancient forms of music (which can be at times daunting to an uninitiated listener), while incorporating the familiar sounds of passionate and sonorous gypsy flamenco.

Anoushka is truly a master, no easy feat on an instrument that stands four feet tall, has 19 strings and at times demands all the physical strength and endurance of the musician even in its most simplistic expression. Its light and delicate timbre requires a constant strike of the plectrum on the strings to generate a sound which decays and disappears almost instantly. The constant "attack" on the strings causes the instrument to detune often, requiring the sitarist to spend an inordinate amount of time tuning.

With 19 strings with which to contend, it has become an acceptable fact with audiences that an extended tuning period precedes most pieces, again potentially agitating the uninitiated. However, once accomplished (as Anoushka deftly demonstrated with lightning speed, fully aware of western audiences' limited tolerance), the instrument returns to its role as one of the most expressive string instruments of the world. Her mastery of the discipline is evident and clearly this is a daughter of a maestro who can stand on her own already far-reaching accomplishments.

Her presence on stage exuded a joyful peacefulness and confidence in her technique, understanding and accepting her destiny as the heir apparent in keeping classical Indian music traditions alive while exploring and incorporating musical styles of other cultures.

Anouska was joined by five other musicians, each exhibiting a brilliance of their craft. Sandra Carrasco, a flamenco vocalist, delighted the audience with her passion and pathos in conveying the dramatic emotion of a true gypsy singer. When accompanied by flamenco guitarist Melon Jimenez, suddenly the flavor of the concert changed to distinctly Spanish.

Both flamenco musicians fueled audience participation in the wide range of emotions that flamenco is known to elicit. The rhythm section was held down by: Bernhard Schmpersberger on cajon and tambuta (an African Udu clay pot cum-instrument capable of generating a wide variety of tones); and Pirashenna Thevarajah on mrdangam (a cylindrical drum with heads on either side more commonly associated with the south Indian Karnatic style of music), ghatam (India's clay pot percussion instrument) and moorsing (a metal juice harp). Sanjeev Shankar (no relation to Anoushka) rounded out the Indian contingent on shenai (a small wind reed instrument that is akin to the soprano saxophone) and tamboura, an unfretted drone instrument.

The concert began with Anoushka greeting her Dallas audience warmly, her perfect British accent adding to the sense of combined world cultures. Later she would describe that much of the material on her recently released album, Traveler, was written after a 2010 concert with her father in Dallas' Meyerson Symphony Center while being four months pregnant. Shankar's first piece was introduced as a morning raga, Bhairavi, which employs the notes of the western Phrygian mode, an iconic combination of tones that are deeply rooted in both Indian classical and European folk music; it is used extensively in both flamenco and Spanish classical musical traditions. A raga is generally described as emoting a rasa (mood), generated by a combination of scales and phrases. In keeping with the tradition of classical Indian music, the piece began with an Alap, a slow introduction of the raga which teasingly unfolds notes of the scale with no rhythmic accompaniment. When joined by the mrdungam, the audience was transported almost mystically to a sonic world seldom reached by the western ear. Anoushka reveled in this piece as her affirmation and recognition of India's rich and ancient musical heritage.

Anoushka was then joined by the vocalist and guitarist performing "Dance Inside Me," one of the songs from Traveler, written during her pregnancy as tribute to her unborn son. This song, as with many of the other compositions played, utilized traditional flamenco forms such as the bulerías, a 12-beat Spanish cadence that moves the listener with is powerful syncopated rhythms over which the soloists are free to soar to unparallel heights of improvisation. The juxtaposition of Indian instruments onto this distinctly Western style was the aural treat of the evening as it was clear the intent was to find a common plane of communication irrespective of the discipline or musical tradition that defined the individual.

Audience reaction was clearly positive. As one member put it, "I'm coming out of my skin it was so good." Members were awestruck by the intensity of the music which at times lulled the listener into a meditative state or placed them on the edge of their seat by watching musicians play as fast as humanly possible.

The evening was rich in its blend of musical styles and traditions, each capable performer contributed equally to the brilliance and vibrancy of Anoushka's well-crafted compositions, many drawn from Traveler. Although not a true classical Indian performance from a purists point of view, even the most hardened traditionalist must recognize and applaud Anoushka's youthful virtuosity seeking to make her mark as an individual in exploring new horizons, as did her father in his many collaborations with Western musicians. The future of India's rich musical traditions is safe in her hands.

Undoubtedly, she will at times revert to her roots. The drive for the discipline to honor her musical guru, Ravi Shankar, will always keep her ear close to the heritage from which she grew. Minimally, in honor of her father, she will keep this flame alive.

◊ Don Vitsentzos is a musician and writer, and a member of the world music ensemble Impending Bloom.

World 'Traveller'

Anoushka Shankar celebrates her culture-bridging new album at Luckman

By Bliss

04/19/2012