'My father is the ultimate guru'

Rising sitar star Anoushka Shankar on working with piano legend Herbie Hancock for his latest project that releases next month, and touring with father Pandit Ravi Shankar, who turned 90 this year

Sitar prodigy Anoushka Shankar has always been in an enviable spot. At 21, she performed and conducted Concert for George, a tribute show held in the memory of George Harrison, featuring greats such as Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and Tom Scott.

At 22, she was nominated for a Grammy. At 19, she met Herbie Hancock, one of the biggest jazz legends of all time and collaborated with him last year, sharing credits with the likes of vocalist Chaka Khan and jazz genius on the saxophone, Wayne Shorter. Three months ago, she was involved with the launch of East Meet West Music (EMW Music), a label launched by the Ravi Shankar Foundation to promote independent music. In an email interview, Shankar talks more music:

What's the EMW Music catalogue looking like? How much time do you get to work with the label?
EMWM is a brand-new label and has only one release under its belt so far, which was the first in a series we are calling 'Nine Decade', chronicling my father's music through unreleased and little-heard recordings spanning the breadth of his incredible career.
I tend to be involved in the mixing and mastering of the records, giving advice or feedback to the sound mix and quality. I am also involved in choosing material for release, but am not very involved with the day-to-day running of the label.

You have a packed touring schedule with your father this October. What is it like touring with him?
Well, in one sense it's quite relaxed for me. On my father's tours now, we tend to do a show every few days to give him time to travel and rest in between. It's still gruelling and I wonder how he does it at 90! But on my own tours, we do between five and six shows a week, so that's a lot more hectic. For that reason, I enjoy touring with my father and getting time to spend with my parents and see the cities I travel to.
But more importantly, in a musical sense, performing with my father is the ultimate experience for an artiste. And as the years go by, that experience becomes more and more precious.

What are some of the most important aspects of performing live that come through in your father's concerts?
Music has a strong spiritual quality, and in one sense, I mean that very simply. When truly involved in playing, everything else disappears and one is totally in the moment, not thinking ahead, and not remembering the past, but simply, totally connected to each note as it's played.
I think my father is an example of this Zen-like quality more than any artist I've heard. He improvises freely and totally, he trusts and lets go, giving in to the music in a way I find incredibly inspiring and beautiful.

What is it like recording with him?
Surprisingly, we've done very little recording together! I think that's something we should remedy. We've worked on records together, either with him producing my first two records or with me assisting on some of his, but we've only played together for recording a few times. The last time was for the piece 'Oceanic' on my album with Karsh Kale, 'Breathing Under Water'. It was great fun and totally spontaneous, just the way we play on stage.

What is your father like as a guru?
Quite simply, the ultimate guru I could have ever hoped for. I'm full of gratitude for having had him as a teacher.

Did you ever have stage nerves?
I still get stage-fright, though in varying degrees, and not at every show. Performing is like second nature to me and I love it, but I think nerves are an important part of the process, as they help me focus and prepare and give the audience their due.

You have a big collaboration on Herbie Hancock's latest record The Imagine Project. What was it like working with names likeu00a0 Hancock, Chaka Khan, Wayne Shorter? Did you all record separately?
Herbie recorded with me and the other Indian musicians in Mumbai,u00a0 Chaka Khan and Wayne Shorter added their parts later. It was a case study in people from different backgrounds coming together, and I could see how our musical ears worked so differently: the Indians looking to find a raga that matched the main melody and Herbie delving into the harmonic undertones. In this case, I think the difference played out beautifully!u00a0

How did the Herbie project happen? Had you met him earlier? The album, in fact, began in India, we hear.
I first met Herbie Hancock nearly 10 years ago, when I played for the World Economic Forum. I remember him saying he liked a section I had played in a seven-beat cycle.
We met again just two years ago when he did a lecture-demonstration with Wayne Shorter at my father's music centre in New Delhi. He stunned me by asking me to play at his performance at Siri Fort that night. It was an amazing experience to get up there with those two legends and just wing it!
I think Herbie's idea to do a project connecting to India began on that trip, and he contacted me to be involved when he returned. He has since visited us at our home in San Diego. He's an incredible musician but also, a truly beautiful human being, and I've loved getting to interact with him.u00a0

Do you think technology has made Indian classical music more accessible -- say, for instance, in the case of your album Breathing Under Water?
Technology has helped and hurt Indian classical music in the same way as many other genres. It helps audiences find remote recordings and helps artistes reach a target audience. It has also made piracy rampant and killed record sales. But experimental records like Breathing Under Water don't exist because of technology; they exist because of curious minds and a desire to cross boundaries.
It's good for us all to remember that people like my father and others were making experimental music many decades ago, so the act of experimentation in itself is nothing new though the forms may continue to develop.

Speaking of technology, Norah's (Jones) new album The Fall is a musical headstand of sorts. She's been really bold and melded electronica and jazz beautifully. Was there any nudging from you on this front?
Actually, there wasn't! I was really happy to see her going in that direction because it was a really honest and brave thing to do. It's hard for any artiste to take that risk and step outside of people's expectations, and she has done it beautifully. I've given her a lot of positive feedback about it but I wasn't actually in any way involved in her going that way.u00a0
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Some of your albums are also like Anoushka and Friends projects. How is it working with friends?
I think chemistry is important in music and the dynamic between people can be discerned in the way they create together, push each other and sometimes compete with each other. There is a trust between friends that in my case also means I feel safe as an artiste, safe to experiment and take risks and go further than I think I can.

I've always wondered, especially for classical music since it's heavily based on improvisation -- how do you know where you have to stop?
That's an interesting question! Sometimes it's as simple as eye-contact and body language. Of course, we all know when we're heading towards a climax but it can sometimes take a particular look to let everyone know we're on the very last round or final passage.
Of course, within each form there are recognisable things too. For example the tehai in Indian classical music. If we are improvising on stage and do the very final fast passage, then we can give a cue and play a tehai, which means everyone on stage knows to stop when it finishes.

Lastly, what are you listening to these days?u00a0
I've really gotten into opera this year. I've seen about five major operas this year, including La Boheme and Carmen. Funnily enough they are almost like classic Hindi films; three hours long, full of music, melodrama, intrigue, plot twists and long, dramatic deaths!

(The Imagine Project will be available in stores next month)