Anoushka Shankar plays her instrumental sitar song "Say Your Prayers" live in concert before a sold-out audience at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, California on October 18, 2023. Say Your Prayers-which Shankar co-wrote with Austrian percussionist & Björk collaborator Manu Delago-appeared on Shankar's eighth studio album, Land Of Gold (2016), and then her retrospective compilation album Reflections (2019).
As Shankar explained, the song was inspired by her own motherhood and her deep concern for the the plight of refugee children: "I had recently given birth to my second child. I was deeply troubled by the intense contrast between my ability to provide for my baby, and others who desperately wanted to provide the same security for their children but were unable to do so. It was a disturbing comparison that played on my mind, fuelled by a sense of growing outrage, that the mass displacement of this vulnerable tide of people had been caused by external political decisions and detached acts of war. It is tragic to think that we live in a world where our capacity to offer sanctuary to those uprooted by violent circumstances beyond their control is determined by geographical borders. As I watched this nightmarish trauma unfold, graphically crystallized by the heart-wrenching images of the lifeless body of Syrian infant Aylan Kurdi washed-up on a Turkish beach, I felt overwhelmed with a sense of powerlessness to alleviate the suffering and injustice taking place as the world looked on. . . . The horror of children needing to make this terrifying journey played constantly on my mind, and “Say Your Prayers” explores a parent’s role in keeping children cocooned and protected from the trauma around them as much as possible."
Anoushka Shankar is a Grammy nominated sitar virtuoso from London, England who began performing sitar on stage with her father, sitar master Ravi Shankar, when she was just 13 years old. Joining her onstage for this SFJazz performance were Arun Ghosh (clarinet), Tom Farmer (bass), Pirashanna Thevarajah (Carnatic percussion), and Sarathy Korwar (drums).
==========================
Anoushka Shankar North American tour dates (2023)
Oct. 3 - Storrs, CT @ Jorgensen Center for the Performing Arts
Oct. 5 - Ridgefield, CT @ The Ridgefield Playhouse
Oct. 6 - Bethesda, MD @ The Music Center at Strathmore
Oct. 7 - Brooklyn, NY @ Pioneer Works
Oct. 8 - Boston, MA @ Berklee Performance Center
Oct. 10 - Montréal, Québec @ Place Des Arts, Theatre Maisonneuve
Oct. 11 - Ottawa, Canada @ National Arts Centre, Southam Hall
Oct. 13 - Chicago, IL @ Chicago Symphony Center
Oct. 14 - Toronto, Ontario @ Koerner Hall
Oct. 15 - Vancouver, BC @ Chan Shun Concert Hall
Oct. 17 - Seattle, WA @ The Moore Theatre
Oct. 18 - San Francisco, CA @ Herbst Theatre (SFJazz)
Oct. 20 - Santa Fe, NM @ Lensic Performing Arts Center
Oct. 21 - Orange, CA @ Musco Center for the Perfoming Arts
Oct. 22 - Northridge, CA @ Great Hall at The Soraya
=======================
Anoushka Shankar official bio:
The urge to build bridges flows through sitar star Anoushka Shankar’s veins. The daughter of legendary sitar master Ravi Shankar, she was raised straddling east and west, moving between London, Delhi and California. She performs music from her career as captured on her latest album, the GRAMMY-nominated 2022 live recording Between Us.
A dedicated acolyte of her father who has immersed herself in classical Hindustani music, the nine-time GRAMMY nominee has forged an independent identity by collaborating with a vast array of artists from jazz icon Herbie Hancock and violinist Joshua Bell to the DJ duo Thievery Corporation, rock band Jethro Tull and Asian Underground pioneer Karsh Kale.
Following 2013’s Traces of You, which featured guest vocals from her half-sister and pop superstar Norah Jones came a series of increasingly accomplished releases including 2015’s pure Indian project Home, 2016’s Land of Gold, and her latest studio session Love Letters, recorded in collaboration with guests Alev Lenz, Shilpa Rao, Ibeyi, and Ayanna Witter-Johnson.
Tracks from these albums are represented on Between Us, a remarkable live document of a 2018 performance in the Netherlands featuring longtime collaborator Manu Delago on percussion along with Holland’s Metropole Orkest.
Combining myriad global influences with the melodic sophistication of northern India, Shankar takes the latest bold step in a world music legacy.
21 окт 2023
