Joy in the twilight

Anoushka Shankar celebrated her father's 100th birth anniversary with an unusual tribute.

In a pre-Corona world, the flamboyant Ravi Shankar would have never approved of such a muted celebration of his birth anniversary. The pandemic has made its own rules, however. April 7th was the maestro’s 100th birth anniversary no less and his family and disciples had grand plans for a series of commemorative concerts. But alas! That could not be. However, the next best thing has been achieved with an online tribute conceptualised by his daughter Anoushka.

Anoushka, along with Ravi Shankar’s students, some of whom are eminent musicians in their own right, has recreated and re-arranged ‘Sandhya Raga’ from the album Inside The Kremlin (which is, arguably, one of Shankar’s most addictive ‘world music’ efforts). Originally a deeply reflective and evocative piece of instrumental music running to nearly 12 minutes of listening time, Anoushka’s version is a snappy three minutes — jazzed up with flutes, ghatam, cello and, not to forget, mohan veena by the celebrated Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. While the original is all about mellow skies and pink sunsets, this version is a burst of evening colours — joyous, celebratory and upbeat — just what we need for quarantine evenings.

It is also effortlessly heartfelt and all the more poignant because all the musicians have recorded their individual bits in their living rooms and the video has been collated and edited. Happily, the physical distance has done nothing to reduce its magic. Anoushka has put it up on her channel on YouTube with the promise of more on the way. We cannot wait.

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