It was a “one night only” concert. And what a night it was, with Anoushka Shankar, leaving her maiden mark at the Esplanade Concert Hall.

The Project Entourage

The daughter of legendary Ravi Shankar who himself transformed Indian classical music and brought it to international notice with his sitar, follows closely in her father’s footsteps. The 27-year-old half sister of multiple Grammy Award winner Norah Jones was in town on her world tour The Anoushka Shankar Project with a crew of 5. Singapore is her last stop before coming over from Taiwan.

Her other talented musicians are Tanmay Bose at tabla, Leo Dombecki on the piano, cellist Barry Philips, flautist Ravichandra Kulur with the flute and Nick Able who plays the ‘drone’ or also known as the tanpura.

Let the Sitar Play

The few hundred odd crowd waited in silence, while the musicians made their final tweaks to their instruments.

From the time Anoushka played her first note to the last, the impact was mesmerising.

Even those among the audience exposed to this genre of music for the first time will agree that the mix of fast and slow beats is ideal for the fusion style that Anoushka plays. Like an artist splashing her brush across the canvas, Anoushka displayed composure and deftness with her sitar for 90 minutes.

As with other classical music performances, a single song takes more than 10 to 15 minutes to perform. What truly amazes us is the continuous play by all performers, as they were very short intervals between each song.

For example, as Anoushka ran her fingers over the delicate strings of her sitar, her fingers were sometimes a rapid blur. Or when Bose, truly a maestro in his field, tapped and drummed beats in accentuation to her string-play. Both artistes were able to keep at it non-stop for many minutes straight, proving great intensity and stamina.

Of Ragas

The first piece or raga played is entitled “Shailangi”. It is also an original Ravi Shankar composition and is one of his favourites. The music begins slowly but got progressively faster, signalling what was to come – a display of her swiftness.

This is not to say, however, that her abilities are constrained to just performing classical pieces written by her father. Apart from modifying some of his old pieces, she has written some of her own too, many of which have modern elements.

The second song “Palas Kafi” is accompanied by the piano, cello and wooden flute. Like the first song, it starts off slow, stretching slowly to a faster pace. An element of cat and mouse ensues as the tabla “chased” the pace and tune of the sitar. It‘s interesting to note how the musicians looked at one another from time to time, as though cajoling or challenging each other.

“Red Sun”, written and composed by Anoushka and UK-based Nitin Sawhney, turns out to be an interesting ‘beats battle’. In the middle of the song, a verbal beats battle ensued, where the tabla player and the flautist throw spoken scores at each other. It goes on for a while, with both seeming to enjoy it very much. As part of the song’s structure, the other 4 musicians carry on playing.

Many of the artistes also got to display their individual talents in forms of solos throughout the performance, with Leo Dombecki really standing out with his wild piano solo late in the show.

90 Minutes

On the whole, The Anoushka Shankar Project proved to be a delight. The stage might have not been extravagantly decorated for the occasion except for mood lighting, however the audience would have had enjoyed the light and serene ambience that came from the live experience which is totally different feel from listening to her on CDs.

Although the spotlight was on the young sitar talent, kudos goes to all the others who, by the excellent use of their instruments, made their presence felt and remembered. At the end, the crowd, consisting of mostly middle-aged folks, showed their appreciation by giving the troupe a well-deserved standing ovation.

Having made it to the front of the first copy of the Rolling Stone magazine (India edition) and the Young Global Leaders for 2008 list, If she continues to develop her talent further and perform as such, it would seem as though Anoushka is set to continue to inspire the world in many years to come.

Tickets for the performance were priced from $78 to $188