Anoushka Shankar scores two Grammy nominations

New Delhi: Anoushka Shankar, renowned sitar player, producer, film composer, and activist, received her 8th and 9th nominations for the annual Grammy Awards, making her the first Indian female artist to do so. A.R. Rahman and Zubin Mehta are the only other two Indian music greats to achieve a similar accomplishment.

She has been nominated for two Grammy Awards: Best Global Music Album for Between Us…, her first live album since 2001’s Live At Carnegie Hall, and Best Global Music Performance for Udhero Na, her collaboration with multi-instrumentalist and singer Arooj Aftab. The 65th edition of the awards will be held on February 5th, 2023, in Los Angeles.

She has a long Grammy history; she was the first Indian woman to be nominated and the youngest-ever nominee in the World Music category in 2002 for her album Live At Carnegie Hall. She later became the first performer of Indian origin to take the stage at the awards show in 2005, served as a presenter in 2016, and gave a second performance in 2021.

In addition to her current twin nominations, Anoushka has received Grammy nods for her earlier works, including Live At Carnegie Hall, Rise, Traveller, Traces Of You, Home, Land Of Gold, and Love Letters.

An elated Anoushka Shankar shares with us, “It was truly a stunning moment to realize I had been nominated twice for this year’s Grammy Awards. I’m thrilled to have my album ‘Between Us’ recognized as I’m very proud of the music I composed on that record and I’m overjoyed to share the nomination with my collaborators too. It’s also wonderful to be nominated alongside the brilliant Arooj Aftab for our work together on her song Udhero Na. I feel so grateful for everyone’s well wishes and messages. Now for the awkward part: trying to just stay happy and grateful for the nomination and not think too much about winning! Both categories are stacked with strong music and wonderful artists so I’ll just try to enjoy this initial recognition.”

Anoushka is now planning for a three-city tour of India that will take place in December 2022. This will be Anoushka’s first performance in her own country in two years, and she will be bringing back The Anoushka Shankar Project, which has been giving live performances since 2007. The performers include drummer Sarathy Korwar, upright bassist Tom Farmer, clarinettist Arun Ghosh, Carnatic percussionist Pirashanna Thevarajah, and British electronic artist Gold Panda (real name Derwin Decker).

A noteworthy first; Anoushka is expected to present and perform the world premiere of a reimagined version of her 2013 track In Jyoti’s Name. Titled In Her Name, the song features a poem by acclaimed poet Nikita Gill and releases on the 16th of December 2022, which marks the 10th anniversary of the horrific gang-rape of Jyoti Singh Pandey. The reimagined version is a rallying cry in her memory, and in the memory of so many others who have suffered similar tragedies in the ten years since then.

Tickets for the tour can be purchased on www.bookmyshow.com. Prices start INR 1,000/- upwards. Cities include Bengaluru, Mumbai and New Delhi.

-IANS