Easy - Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones

(sorry the song cuts off)

This song got me really choked up the first time I heard it. I had been inspired by Kim's post to look up more Anoushka Shankar videos and found this - a musical collaboration between Anoushka and her half sister Norah Jones.

Like most people, I heard about Norah Jones because of her own music and not because of her relationship to her world famous father Ravi Shankar. From what I understand, that's the way she wanted it - she wanted to find her way in the musical world on her own steam and she has (getting so many Grammy awards in one night that she dropped one while attempting to balance them all in her arms). She didn't even find out that Ravi Shankar was her father until she was ten years old. And apparantly she didn't reestablish contact with her father (and her sister Anoushka) until about five years ago.

The two sisters have grown up in very different musical contexts and disciplines. Norah grew up in Dallas with her mother, working as a waitress and playing piano bar gigs. Anoushka grew up in London and California and visited India a few times a year. She started playing the sitar when she was 8 and became her father's pupil. Since he's the best in the world, that'd make following in his footsteps quite a task and Anoushka has strode into her musical life at that pace.


(I love Anoushka's head shaking appreciation of single notes as Ravi plays)

The bit that I trip over is the notion of being gifted a sister in your mid 20's! Thinking of my own sister, Becca and how many combinations of different and similar our personalities and artistic choices are, I am amazed at the prospect of starting a relationship with a sister after so many of the important choices of one's life have already been made. I would definitely be a different version of me without Becca in my history. So to come to terms with family rifts and cultural differences and God knows what else after years of separation, that'd be quite an adventure.

So when I hear this song, I hear these two amazing women playing and singing in relation to one another and am very moved by their choice to make harmonies of their different experiences - and I'm awed by all of the personal and professional logistics that were surely danced through to make it so. If it were me in either of their shoes, I'd get the hugest kick out of it. I'd feel proud and blessed that our music, though vastly different in so many ways was still connected by blood and that our wills could manifest that connection musically when we work together.

Shankar himself is delighted at the reconciliation of his daughters. "It is wonderful," he said. "It's a great feeling. I feel very happy about it. Norah was my first daughter and I missed out on eight years of her life so it is wonderful to have her back. "They have so much in common it is mind-boggling, really . In their looks, in their behavior, in the way they are so quick-witted. They are so fantastic together."

Shuddha Sarang :: Anoushka Shankar

I'm a sucker for sitar.

One of my life dreams is to learn to play it. Some day. This is a very lofty aspiration.

In the meantime, I deeply admire the sitar playing of others. Anoushka Shankar is one of those people. Her talent is immense. And she has large shoes to fill - she is daughter of the masterful Ravi Shankar, the incredible musician that revolutionized sitar playing and popularized the instrument, as well as Indian music on the whole, to Western audiences. Like, uh, for example, when the Beatles started doing drugs and started making way cooler music, George (my favorite) pulled in Ravi for sitar lessons.

Anyway.

Anoushka is remarkable in her own right. She is intelligent and well spoken. I listened to a fascinating interview with her on "Speaking of Faith" on NPR about approaching prayer (check it). And she plays WICKED sitar. She has been performing since the age of 13. Crazy.

I love the complexity of sitar music. The time signatures and pitch possibilities are far more diverse than Western musical structures. I think it is like ear candy. I lose myself in it completely.

Today I am choosing the piece "Shuddha Sarang", off her album Anourag, from 2000. This album is entirely music composed by Ravi, and even features a duet. This is a great album. "Shuddha Sarang" is an early afternoon raga. What's a raga? A raga is a series notes that form a melody by specific rules, upon which the musician improvises. Ragas are connected to specific times or day or seasons, and form the basis for traditional Indian music. If you want to know more about ragas, look here.

I love listening to this piece in the morning - regardless of its 'early afternoon' association. The way it builds is remarkable. I have found peace and rejuvenation in this piece for years. I hope you enjoy it...all 12:43 minutes!

Here's the catch: pressing "play" below only plays a small sample segment. If you click "download", another window will open that will allow you to the play the whole song AND you don't actually have to download anything.



Random fact that you may or may not know: Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones are half-sisters.

XOXO
Kim