By Kavita A Chhibber
My grandmother once said to me that whenever you pray and you suddenly find tears streaming down your cheeks, it means that the divine energy you are praying to is standing before you, answering your prayers, healing you, and telling you “You are protected and watched over.”
When an artist starts strumming the first notes and your tears start and don’t stop, then you know you are about to have a very personal, magical and mystical experience.
That happened on October 8, 2023 at the Anoushka Shankar concert in Boston at Berklee College of Music.
I first met Anoushka in 2001 when she was 19, along with her father Pandit Ravi Shankar and his incredible wife Sukanya Shankar.
The one thing that has not changed about Anoushka is her character – Always honest, ethical, compassionate, classy, generous to a fault, giving credit where it’s due, truly happy to see others succeed and a deep thinker.
Anoushka used to share some of her writings on my website and I realized what a multi-talented artist she was, even then. And an old soul.
Today she is a formidable musician but I love the fact that she is also an activist and a role model.
Anoushka’s candor in sharing her own personal struggles has given many women the courage to find their voice and to reclaim their identity.
Some have said to me that they realize pain is an equal opportunity companion, and that your attitude determines how you will handle the curve balls. They are all inspired by Anoushka Shankar , her music, her sharing.
I love her evolution and how she has worked through all the struggles. She has continued to evolve on all fronts while raising two sons as a single parent.
As someone said, every day may not be a good day, but there is always something good in every day.
I had decided I was not going to listen to Anoushka’s new mini album “Chapter 1:Forever For Now” which was released on October 6th, until after the concert, the first part of a trilogy. Best decision of my life.
When Anoushka came on stage and started without any introduction on what she was about to play, I found myself embraced by note after note of contemplative, meditative, mystical music.
I felt Ravi ji seated behind her. Memories of special moments spent with them for over two decades started swirling around me. And the tears kept on falling. Memories of joyful, insightful conversations and laughter.
A recent, most precious memory of Sukanya ji kindly arranging extra tickets for Anoushka’s last sold out concert at the Berklee Performance Hall in 2019. Her thoughtfulness helped us bring four people who had gone through mental health and other issues to the concert.
One of them passed away this past August. He had been so excited that we wanted him to come with us for this one as well. I thought of him during the performance, and was filled with gratitude that he had loved the concert he attended.
When the composition ended, I was not surprised to hear that the piece Anoushka played was called “What Will We Remember?”
This is a stunning, meditative, and contemplative piece even as a recording. But to hear it live is an experience I will NEVER forget. Each person when asked “What will we remember?” will be transported into their personal treasure trove of memories.
The artist her own as well.
But what a beautiful garland we weave together. The artist and the audience forever tied together through those memories in a universal, cosmic soul-to-soul connection.
One of my favorite albums by Anoushka is “Land of Gold” because it compelled her to explore so many social issues. The refugee crisis caused by political decisions and war. The loss of a secure, haven for children.
My father (a retired military General) always said to me, “There are no winners in war. Only losers”. The things that we take so much for granted are not guaranteed to so many globally. A haven to thrive, to be safe.
And yet together we can create change.
Each composition from “Land of Gold” is a gem that touches on various influences that shape our journey – the good, the bad, the ugly – but hope and faith in the human spirit often helps us eventually return to the good. One step at a time.
So it was befitting that Anoushka chose to play “Say Your Prayers” (a lullaby she wrote for her sons) and the hope tinged “Reunion” from the album to share with us.
“Say Your Prayers” is a reminder to teach our children gratitude, that there are so many who don’t have that sanctuary. It is also to not lose hope and faith in divine intervention.
It is optimism that prayer is powerful and has tremendous energy at times to help us through inner and outer strife.
“Reunion” is joyful, colored by optimism, and that hope for positive new beginnings, the resilience of the human spirit. According to Anoushka, it was a launching pad for some other ideas as well.
I loved that she honored her grandmother and mother by sharing the lullaby “Daydreaming” based on a carnatic music composition they sang to her when she was growing up.
It was so much fun listening to the reinterpretation of Ravi ji’s composition “Fire Night,” from his album “Improvisations”.
Ravi ji didn’t play in Fire Night, but somehow it caught Anoushka’s attention, she decided to reinterpret it, and included the sitar. It was beautiful to go back to Ravi ji’s composition and then listen to the new interpretation.
The musicians accompanying Anoushka on this tour are such stellar musicians and such cool people to hang out with.
Ajit and I couldn’t take our eyes off of Arun Ghosh, the phenomenal clarinet maestro (- although I believe he plays 10 or 11 other instruments). He is also a prolific composer in his own right. He made the clarinet talk in ways I could not have imagined. Ajit (who is also a musician) observed that Ghosh’s artistry featured equal parts precision and soul – his playing was supportive and empathetic – even restrained – when needed, with bursts of sheer virtuosity and dramatic flair when the spotlight was given to him.
I just finished listening to one of his albums “But Where Are You Really From?” I loved the diversity of each composition and its essence. We are all from somewhere, but the lines are blurring as we tackle a global world.
Of course the track “Punjabi Girl” (I am one!!) and “Nataraja” are my personal favorites. I hope to listen to all his albums now!
Tom Farmer really is such a cool cat! He is a multiple award-winning double bassist (very busy from what I read). He is also part of the Jazz band “Empirical.” Tom was clearly having so much fun on stage. His joy and energy was so infectious. I just started smiling the moment I would look at him. When we met him backstage he joked that he didn’t need to try to act like he was having fun with the quintet – it came easily and naturally. His energy obviously derives from magical chemistry with all the musicians. Like attracts like!
Upon reading a great interview with him in The Bath Magazine, I discovered that he was a budding classical pianist in school. Tom switched gears with a passion to reinvent jazz for those who may think jazz is “too high brow and difficult”. He played at “Pop Up Jazz Lounges” – a brilliant way to play at venues where passers by would be intrigued and stop to listen. I loved his comment in that interview that music is not about technicalities and construction of a song or a composition. It is about sharing a moment with someone.
Instrumental music has that incredible capability to create a soul-to-soul connection through the purity of sound, through dialogue between two instruments or more, and to just simply connect, as all of us from various ethnic cultures sitting in that packed auditorium were.
I loved some of the pieces I heard from Empirical on YouTube. Respect for tradition but appeal towards a contemporary audience is so evident in their work.
Sarathy Korwar on drums was such a revelation! His touch was elegant and immensely sensitive to where the drums needed to be used as a delicate flavor to the melodic sauce, and where it had to lead to provide the most impact.
I was reading his bio on the program and it said he is US-born, India-raised. He is a drummer, composer, band leader, producer and one of the most original and compelling voices in the UK Jazz scene today.
I enjoyed listening to his highly rated album “Kalak”. I noticed the same sensitivity to how instruments should be used to enhance and enrich a composition and not to show off.
My personal favorite was “That Clocks Don’t Tell but Make Time”. The title is a life lesson in itself.
Pirashanna Thevarajah is very well known to those of us who have seen Ravi ji and Anoushka perform since the early 2000s.
Anoushka introduced him to the audience as the master musician who was “playing everything” onstage! Indeed he played 4 instruments last night! Mrindagam became especially magical in his hands as did the art of konnakol (Indian spoken rhythm).
He is high level intelligence and intuition combined in one man. And a fun conversationalist back stage. Wish Ajit and I had more time with him. It’s hard to single out a personal favorite but I love listening to his konnakol solos. And everything else!
Ajit observed that both the Carnatic percussion and jazz rhythm section (drums/bass) were never loud or overbearing. They were completely in service of each composition, beautifully intentional, with no single part being greater than the whole. All of the musicians were tightly coordinated and in perfect symbiotic lock-and-step with one another. They shifted dynamics on each composition from roaring crescendos to whispering murmurs. They embodied the perfect quintet – 5 virtuosos supporting each other in a journey of musical ideas.
Over the years, people have tried to burden Anoushka with their own expectations. People talk about Anoushka carrying Pandit Ravi Shankar’s legacy, and there were constant unfair comparisons and the bringing up of her gender.
Her pride in being her father’s daughter and the blessings and love that have been showered on her will surely always have a special place in her life and in her heart.
Today she has her own strong presence, her own voice. She is creating her own place in the world of global music, and what will eventually be her own legacy. It is a beautiful addition to that of her legendary father.
We are all tied together by universal laws of nature. There is no original word, or musical note. But how we interpret those words, the sounds and those notes, make our life’s journey uniquely our own.
And Anoushka’s journey is a life lesson in more ways than one. Don’t miss the rest of the tour where ever you are.
The next leg is the Canadian one, with their first concert on the 10th October in Montreal.
You won’t see videos of the concerts from the audience. So do go and attend. You will thank me later.
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