FPSHOT
Sep 07, 2002, 09:04 AM
I was doing my monthly reading of 'The Times Of India' and saw an article about Anoushka Shankar, where she speaks about her Uncle George, but also gives some more background about herself and the Shankar family.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=18667103&sType=1
"Imagine having to go for a DNA test in order to be able to use her father’s surname. Imagine having to explain why her parents, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sukanya, got married when she was already seven.
Imagine meeting one’s half-sister, Norah Jones by one of her father’s “past girlfriends” only to eerily find that she looked more like her mother than she did. The two half sisters even sport similar tattoos. Similar queer incidents are the stuff 21-year-old Anoushka Shankar’s life is made of.
While others her age would avoid intrusive queries on such sensitive issues, Anoushka is surprisingly candid. “I knew my mom loved Bapi very much and I thought it was very cool that she got what she wanted,” she says.
She goes to great lengths explaining how her father’s music became a part of her life even before she started living with him.
“I was aware that Pandit Ravi Shankar was an important person in our lives even before they got married. My mother would take me to all his concerts whenever he was in London. Those days I used to call him ‘Baba’ which means father in Bengali. After they married, I started calling him ‘Bapi’, which is more intimate, like Daddy. When I was nine, I started taking sitar lessons from him.”
Born in London, Anoushka spent a considerable part of her formative years in India, the UK and the US. “My school was where everyone related to me as a young girl and not as Pandit Ravi Shankar’s daughter,” she recalls.
Comparisons with her illustrious father are inevitable and cynics have even declared that a lot of what Anoushka has got is only because of her genes.
“While this may be partially correct, it cannot be true that all this is only because of him. If I was a terrible musician and there was nothing good in what I did, I couldn’t have done so much,” she explains.
To hash a loose chronology, Anoushka assisted her father in the Full Circle Carnegie Hall 2000 album that won a Grammy this year. The first woman to have performed at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, the British Parliament presented her with a House of Commons Shield in recognition of her artistry and musicianship.
She has performed at a concert in London along with Madonna, Bryan Adams and Alan Richman. She also participated in the Rainforest Foundation Benefit Concert in Carnegie Hall along with Elton John, Patti La Belle, Nina Simone and James Taylor.
This programme was special for two reasons — it was dedicated to her father’s best friend George Harrison and organised by her favourite pop icon, Sting. “Uncle George was more of an uncle than a singer to me. I could go to him with all my personal problems. Sting is my favourite popular artiste. I’m just in love with this man!”
Music apart, Anoushka is also a hot favourite with photographers and filmmakers. BBC East has just completed filming her on her European tour. She has also received an offer from an MGM movie.
“Though I didn’t take that offer, I’d love to act in a movie. But the role has to be substantial. I’m much too short and my body is not skinny enough for ramp modelling. If I get a chance to be a brand model for a perfume, that would be great,” she reveals.
With so many feats to her credit, Anoushka, however, remains the quintessential youngster who loves to party, chat with friends online or stay glued to the television watching her favourite serial, Mahabharata. A Madonna fan, she admires Jennifer Lopez as well.
“I’ll always be grateful to her for bringing big, curvy butts back into fashion. My friends have always teased me about my big Indian bottom but thanks to her, that’s no longer an issue.”
Fluent in five languages, Anoushka is also an avid reader. “The poetess in me has now turned into an author. I have finished writing the biography of my father — Bapi: Love of my Life. It is a pictorial biography accompanied by anecdotal captions and excerpts from personal letters,” she explains.
The book, which will be released in New Delhi on August 24, is the first in a new series called Family Pride. She will be in India during the release to see how India reacts to the story of a maestro told “straight from the heart”!
------------------
"There won't be a reunion as long as John is dead"
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?artid=18667103&sType=1
"Imagine having to go for a DNA test in order to be able to use her father’s surname. Imagine having to explain why her parents, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sukanya, got married when she was already seven.
Imagine meeting one’s half-sister, Norah Jones by one of her father’s “past girlfriends” only to eerily find that she looked more like her mother than she did. The two half sisters even sport similar tattoos. Similar queer incidents are the stuff 21-year-old Anoushka Shankar’s life is made of.
While others her age would avoid intrusive queries on such sensitive issues, Anoushka is surprisingly candid. “I knew my mom loved Bapi very much and I thought it was very cool that she got what she wanted,” she says.
She goes to great lengths explaining how her father’s music became a part of her life even before she started living with him.
“I was aware that Pandit Ravi Shankar was an important person in our lives even before they got married. My mother would take me to all his concerts whenever he was in London. Those days I used to call him ‘Baba’ which means father in Bengali. After they married, I started calling him ‘Bapi’, which is more intimate, like Daddy. When I was nine, I started taking sitar lessons from him.”
Born in London, Anoushka spent a considerable part of her formative years in India, the UK and the US. “My school was where everyone related to me as a young girl and not as Pandit Ravi Shankar’s daughter,” she recalls.
Comparisons with her illustrious father are inevitable and cynics have even declared that a lot of what Anoushka has got is only because of her genes.
“While this may be partially correct, it cannot be true that all this is only because of him. If I was a terrible musician and there was nothing good in what I did, I couldn’t have done so much,” she explains.
To hash a loose chronology, Anoushka assisted her father in the Full Circle Carnegie Hall 2000 album that won a Grammy this year. The first woman to have performed at the Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, the British Parliament presented her with a House of Commons Shield in recognition of her artistry and musicianship.
She has performed at a concert in London along with Madonna, Bryan Adams and Alan Richman. She also participated in the Rainforest Foundation Benefit Concert in Carnegie Hall along with Elton John, Patti La Belle, Nina Simone and James Taylor.
This programme was special for two reasons — it was dedicated to her father’s best friend George Harrison and organised by her favourite pop icon, Sting. “Uncle George was more of an uncle than a singer to me. I could go to him with all my personal problems. Sting is my favourite popular artiste. I’m just in love with this man!”
Music apart, Anoushka is also a hot favourite with photographers and filmmakers. BBC East has just completed filming her on her European tour. She has also received an offer from an MGM movie.
“Though I didn’t take that offer, I’d love to act in a movie. But the role has to be substantial. I’m much too short and my body is not skinny enough for ramp modelling. If I get a chance to be a brand model for a perfume, that would be great,” she reveals.
With so many feats to her credit, Anoushka, however, remains the quintessential youngster who loves to party, chat with friends online or stay glued to the television watching her favourite serial, Mahabharata. A Madonna fan, she admires Jennifer Lopez as well.
“I’ll always be grateful to her for bringing big, curvy butts back into fashion. My friends have always teased me about my big Indian bottom but thanks to her, that’s no longer an issue.”
Fluent in five languages, Anoushka is also an avid reader. “The poetess in me has now turned into an author. I have finished writing the biography of my father — Bapi: Love of my Life. It is a pictorial biography accompanied by anecdotal captions and excerpts from personal letters,” she explains.
The book, which will be released in New Delhi on August 24, is the first in a new series called Family Pride. She will be in India during the release to see how India reacts to the story of a maestro told “straight from the heart”!
------------------
"There won't be a reunion as long as John is dead"