Sitarist Anoushka Shankar Guides East-Meets-West Band Oct. 24
October 3, 2006
Sitarist Anoushka Shankar, who makes her Eisenhower Auditorium debut at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 24, is an innovator in world music. Backed by an eclectic ensemble, Shankar applies her sitar skills on songs she composed to connect ancient Indian traditions with 21st-century influences from far-flung sources.
Raised mostly in England and California, along with India, Shankar's influences and tastes are decidedly transcontinental. Her touring band, which reflects her East-meets-West sensibility, includes musicians performing on traditional Indian instruments, such as tabla and tanpura, paired with players on piano, bass and violin. Indian vocals, electronic sounds and sampling are also part of the mix.
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State presentation are on sale at $27 for an adult, $12 for a University Park student and $17 for a person 18 and younger. For tickets and information, visit www.cpa.psu.edu or phone (814) 863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at Eisenhower Auditorium and Bryce Jordan Center, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays; Penn State Tickets Downtown, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday; and HUB-Robeson Center, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays.
The Penn State concert is part of a fall 2006 North American tour in which Shankar and about 10 band mates perform music from her 2005 CD Rise, an album that one critic suggests is more about unity than virtuosity.
"I definitely went through that sort of decision-making process as I was producing the album. Do I want to show everything that I can do at this point?" Shankar says. "For example, I find myself a much better sitar player today than I did five years before when I made my last album. And part of me wants to be able to play everything and show that. But it wasn't really about that for me this time. I just wanted the music to be the best that I could make it."
Rise has been widely praised as the best release to date for the 25-year-old musician, who was taught sitar exclusively by her father, the legendary Ravi Shankar, beginning when she was 9.
"Shankar's use of drums, bass, duduk [a Middle Eastern wind instrument], cello, electronic keyboards and other non-Indian instruments is executed with commendable taste and skill to enhance her already-rich musical palette, not as trendy, world music-flavored novelties," writes a San Diego Union-Tribune critic. "The level of nuance and expression she achieves throughout Rise is impressive, and her composing and arranging have become so accomplished that she shines even on the two numbers on which she does not perform on sitar."
Chosen in 2004 as one of 20 Asian Heroes by the Asia edition of Time, Shankar has been credited with helping to reintroduce Indian classical music to the people of India.
Don and Mary Ellen Fisher sponsor the performance. Radio station 93.7 The Bus is the media sponsor. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring Anoushka Shankar, is offered in Eisenhower Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders. Artistic Viewpoints regularly fills to capacity. Seating is available on a first-arrival basis.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814-863-6379