Anoushka Shankar & Norah Jones: Music as a Love Bridge
When Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones got together to record the album “Traces of You”, they both probably could never have imagined that, during the recording sessions, their father, the great sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, would pass away.
In that album there is a song called “Unsaid” which, as Anoushka would explain later, tries to reflect on their feelings about that unique moment.
As a child, Anoushka was taught by her father to play the sitar, an instrument which takes time to master.
Her father knew how to transmit his love for music to her, and now, in turn, she is passing on her own message to the people who are listening to her music.
As for Norah, when she was a child she would hear her father playing his instrument. Later on in her life, her mother had a great influence on her by showing her several jazz artists which Norah started listening to often.
So the start of both sisters’ musical collaboration is like a fantastic combination of eastern and western sounds.
In that sense, it can be said that relationships between Eastern and Western music are very rich and complex. Looking back in history, we can see that the East has been receptive to get Western music. Let’s consider for example the great success of The Beatles in Japan, where fans were seen reacting to them with the same passion as European or American ones.
Let’s also say that the name Ravi means Sun in Sanskrit. So perhaps this story might show us that we need to be first enlightened by someone else, so that later we ourselves can enlighten others.
They say that “nothing comes from nothing”. So when we look back, we’ll discover that our first phase of life consists of receiving. All the things we are able to give are going to be based on the things we’ve received before. When we understand that, we’ll be able to thank our teachers, parents, or the people who raised us. And though they might no longer be there, we will never forget them for we could just feel them in every laughter, every tear and every step forward we take in our lives.
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