Anoushka Shankar
RAGA ON A ROLL Anoushka Shankar Does Her Dad Proud
Just 13 years old when she made her performance debut and a recording veteran by the time she graduated high school, Anoushka Shankar is nothing if not precocious. Daughter of sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, Anoushka has been excelling at her father's instrument since he crafted a special miniature sitar for her at the age of eight. She's traveled the world, performing alongside Ravi and as a soloist, and divides her time between the family's California home and extensive relations in India and London. So the level of musical maturity evinced on Anourag, her second solo album of ragas, comes as no surprise. What is surprising is just how well the artist holds together the demands of an ancient tradition; the expectations of her iconic father, who's also her teacher; the glare of the media's focus, especially in India; and the usual push-pull of adolescence. Poised and effervescent, Anoushka seems only to thrive in the spotlight. In the midst of a tour to celebrate her father's 80th birthday, she spoke with Mark Schwartz about growing up with the first family of Indian classical music.
Barnes & Noble.com: So, you've been lauded as a virtuoso player and sitar prodigy seemingly since you picked up the instrument. That's kind of got to get old.
Anoushka Shankar: Uh....no! [laughs] I like it. I'm enjoying it. A lot of people may not know too much about our music and maybe I am the only person they've heard and they think I am the most amazing thing. I'm very honored by that, but I am not going to take what they say at face value because I know there are tons of other new musicians in India who are amazingly talented. So I don't let it go to my head, but it's still nice.
B&N.com: Young artists are in vogue in classical music -- in all pop music, really -- right now.
AS: And a lot of them tend to lose it on the way, which is natural 'cause you're not really capable of coping with all that, at such a young age. I think because I was raised having my father already in the spotlight -- and my whole family really are artists, dancers, so everyone is famous -- I'm kind of used to the idea that it's a part of their life but it's not really that important. It feels as if artists have a shorter shelf life today than they used to. The whole world is so much faster now that even in art people will want to listen to a new person all the time. I think it's a real pity. 'Cause in two years most artists just don't really have time to achieve their full potential, and they're off before they've even reached it.
B&N.com: Does that translate to Indian classical music? Does the whole training and study happen at an accelerated pace?
AS: Yes and no. For instance, I started performing when I was 13, but in no way does that mean my training ended or it has ended now. I am still very much a student. That's the case for all Indian musicians who are on the circuit. There are quite a few kids out there right now. A couple are a bit younger than me, but everyone, in their early 20s, to my age, to about 16 -- we have all been around performing for about five or six years now. So, we all started young and that is new. Most of us are kids of musicians and so, you know, it's a part of our life from the beginning.
B&N.com: Can you tell me a little about the crossing back and forth from your life as a California teenager and this other international persona you maintain?
AS: Maybe it's the fact that I am a Gemini, but it's never been difficult for me to do it. I've been doing it all my life. Because I was born in London and I started right at the beginning spending my winters in India and there was a period where I went to two schools at the same time. I went to one in Delhi and one in London. It's just wherever I happened to be, I'd be in school. And then I moved here, and I still kept going back to London, back to India...But I do change; it's just not a very conscious thing. I mean, I go back to London and my accent changes, that's the first thing. I go back to India and become a little more conservative maybe than I am here. A little more careful with my words, definitely on guard because I'm more known there.
B&N.com: What is some of the music you like, beyond the classical realm?
AS: I listen to a lot of Goa trance and I like English drum 'n' bass. And German trance. I don't like the American stuff very much. Hallucinogen, Astral Projection....all these European people. And, of course, when I'm in India, all the Goa stuff. Then I like Rage Against the Machine, Metallica, Bob Marley.
B&N.com: You've also had schooling in western music as well, right?
AS: Yeah, I play piano, classical piano, since I was about 11. I've actually loved piano more always. At the beginning, I always wanted to be a pianist. But I started performing sitar and it just kind of happened that sitar became the main thing. Over time, I really fell in love with it. I did a show in India where I performed with both instruments for India's 50th Republic Year. It was a really big show, and because I was practicing so much on both instruments, like five hours a day, I got tendonitis on my right hand and since then, I have not been able to play tons of both instruments. If I'm on holiday at home, I can play piano. If I'm on tour, I can't play piano because I'm playing so much sitar. So at this point, it's more just something I do for myself. It relaxes me. I love it.
B&N.com: And it's western classical piano stuff you like? Anything in particular you like? Romantics? Baroque?
AS: I love Debussy and Chopin. Probably those are my favorites.
B&N.com: About your music. The track on Anourag that you play with your dad -- that kicks ass. What did that feel like? Did you feel you were holding your own?
AS: Yeah, I really step back when he's there. I'm not out there to compete with him and play as much as I can. It's more that I'm assisting him. So, if he ever wants to stop for a minute, I'll jump in. It's more about thinking about complements. Which is actually the way we are when we perform together, so doing that track was a lot of fun, easy for me because it's just what I do with him all the time.
B&N.com: What was it like when you were growing up, to have a father who is so much older than you?
AS: At this point I have such a good relationship with him that it doesn't really matter. When I was younger, when everyone is trying to be as uniform as possible, then it was weird. Because everyone would play basketball with their dad and things like that and I did not do that. The good thing is that he was such a nut case when he was younger. I mean, he was such a busy musician. He was touring, doing up to 40 concerts a month and never home. I'm his only kid that's actually had him as a real parent because he's mellowed out and he's at home more. I think he's gotten in touch more with his feminine side in his older age. He's a really sensitive, caring, and wonderful dad. I don't know if he would have been, frankly, when he was younger, because he had other priorities at that time. So I think it's the opposite, that I am really lucky that I have him at this point in his life.
B&N.com: Then, of course, there's touring and playing together.
AS: That's a whole separate bond that we have, which is amazing. I think, actually, that it probably helped a lot when I was eight and started learning sitar because before that, I don't think we had too much of a relationship. Also, because my parents got married when I was seven, I still wasn't too close to him. I knew he was my dad and of course I loved him, but we did not really have an active relationship and music really brought us together a lot.
B&N.com: And is it really a separate relationship?
AS: In a way, yes. Because, I act very differently when we are playing music or when he's teaching me either on the instrument or vocally than I would in a normal situation. Like, if we're just watching a movie or something, and he says something I think is silly, I can correct him. But if we are in a musical setting, he's my teacher. In Indian tradition, that means he's my guru, which is a very, very respectful relationship. And so I would never say anything like that. Maybe I would ask a question like, "Well,why would it be like this?" It's a very different way of being.
B&N.com: Beyond the show you're going to do in Central Park, which is a solo show, you're doing other solo performances?
AS: Yeah, I've done a couple. I've got about eight or nine around the country this fall that I'm doing on my own and a few with my dad.
B&N.com: Have you performed solo abroad at all?
AS: Yeah, by accident, I did a show in Italy and Spain this summer because my dad wasn't well, so I went on my own. That actually worked out really well because it was so sudden I didn't have any time to get nervous or anything. I've gotten it out of the way, so I know that I can do it.
B&N.com: In terms of playing, do you prefer playing more of the development, or the alap of the raga, or do you prefer just shredding?
AS: It really depends what kind of raga it is. In my favorite ragas, I really get into the alap. I can get into the deep side of it. I'm not in at the musical stage yet where I can find the heart of every single raga, of course. But in some ragas that are really light-hearted, I tend to just skim over the alap; I'm more into the rhythmic aspect. And I love the drums so much. So the more I can hear them, the better.
B&N.com: So what's next for you musically?
AS: I really want to record more with western musicians. My father wrote this piece for Mstislav Rostropovich last year, which I played with him in France. It has not been recorded and I think it's fantastic piece. My father actually just wrote another piece for Rostropovich, just for cello and sitar. It's already been recorded by my dad, and I'd love to do that. We're actually recording Carnegie Hall this October...That'll be nice because I've always wanted to tape a live show with my dad.
-- August 11, 2000
Mark Schwartz
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