Ravi’s sitar-playing other daughter, and Nora Jones’ half-sister, substantially tweaks Indian classical music into a 21st-century state of being on her latest effort. World music is becoming more and more eclectic, increasingly drawing upon diverse musical traditions that it would not otherwise cohabit, and this is a prime example of that tendency. Texture is key here, and her sitar is but one layer in these compositions, which draw upon gypsy and flamenco traditions and also incorporate piano, electronica, programming and konnokol—an Indian technique of vocal percussion—into a mix of occasionally shimmering preludes that build to the epic and sensually ethereal 11-minute closing song, “Ancient Love,” which looks to both East and West.
Anoushka Shankar
