Anoushka Shankar

To be the heir to a famous name is difficult enough. To follow in your father's footsteps makes things far more complex. But sitar player Anoushka Shankar, who has just released her second album Anourag, has no problems being the daughter of the great Indian sitar master Ravi Shankar. "I was brought up in the public eye. I was raised in a family where being on view is normal," she explained. At 19, she's already achieved more than most performers twice her age. Two years ago, the British Parliament awarded her the rare House of Commons shield for her artistry and musicianship. She's performed with classical orchestras, and worked with former Beatle George Harrison on the Chants of India record, as well as issuing her own albums. But while she admits she's "done a lot, I don't think I'm doing that much more than the average successful kid who gets good grades and does a lot."
"She's driven she's her father's daughter," said music journalist, and Ravi Shankar biographer Ken Hunt. "That's both in genes, and in music. She has the same fire for the music that he has."
And the heat she can generate is perfectly demonstrated in her playing on "Yaman Kalyan.". Shankar, who grew up in England, India, and California, began learning the sitar from her father when she was 9, at her mother's behest."My dad didn't want to teach me, he wanted to wait until I went to him," she recalled. "It was technically uncomfortable and difficult. But by the time I was 11, I was playing better things and grew to enjoy it."
She made her professional debut at 13, and since then has been accompanying her father on stage, since, she pointed out, "it was more that I was assisting him. But for the past year, as he can't perform a full show anymore, I do the first half on my own, then assist him in the second half."
Anourag puts her firmly in the spotlight, with its six Ravi Shankar compositions, including "Shuddha Sarang.". "None of the pieces were written for the CD," Shankar explained. "They were pieces he'd already composed that I was performing, or stuff he'd taught me that wasn't finished. I liked the way things sounded, and I wanted people to hear them."
Of particular note is "Pancham Se Gara," where father and daughter duet, something that meant a lot to Shankar, because "I don't think he's done that for anyone before."
On her current headlining Full Circle tour, where Shankar will play some dates with her father, she'll be performing another of his works, the "Sitar Concerto No. 1," which she debuted with conductor Zubin Mehta and the London Symphony Orchestra when she was 16. Performing the opus with orchestras around America will, she said, be a bit nerve-wracking, because "it's a different musical style for the orchestra. It's not Western classical music, so it's not part of their training, and it doesn't come naturally."
Indian classical music is most definitely her training, however, and for now, with high school behind her, it's the real focus of her life. "I love it and it's my career. But 20 years from now I might not enjoy it as much, in which case I'll stop."
She admits that many see her as the keeper of a flame, and "there's a lot of external pressure on me, people looking for the family tradition to be continued. But I've never had it from my parents. My father wants me to be happy, he's always said that."
Even with two albums under her belt, she doesn't feel comfortable yet. One thing missing from her work, as she admits, is improvisation. But, asserted Hunt, "she'll develop not just an ear for playing, but for improvisation. Right now she's playing with her father's trademark style. She's still young, and I think she'll reach that stage of spontaneous creation."
And Shankar herself knows she's not the finished article yet. "I still think there's a way to go. I haven't done a solo tour in India, which is the real test. And I'm only just starting to tour solo. A year or two from now I'll feel that my career is established."


(content taken from:http://www.globalvillageidiot.net/Anoushka.html)

Youssou N'Dour

Senegal's Youssou N'Dour is, perhaps, the biggest name in world music. Now 40, his eerie voice, high and keening, has barely lost a step from when he burst on the scene in his homeland in 1979 with the hit "Xalis." But in the two decades since his audience, and to an extent his music has become global. The mbalax music he created at the beginning of the ‘80s, a juddering modern mix of local and Cuban rhythms, with dashes of reggae and Western pop for seasoning, made him Senegal's biggest star - a status he's kept ever since. In 1983, Peter Gabriel heard and loved N'Dour's song "Immigres," and began championing the African. The two toured and recorded together, and the exposure introduced N'Dour's music to an international audience.
The Lion (Virgin, 1989) marked him as someone to watch, but it was with Wommat - The Guide (Sony/Work, 1994), and its massive hit single, "7 Seconds," a duet with British singer/rapper Neneh Cherry, that N'Dour hit the big time. And for six years after that, although N'Dour continued to recorded at perform at home, releasing cassettes at home on his Jololi label, there's been international silence, at least until earlier this year. Then N'Dour released Joko - From Village to Town in Europe. While it contained some rootsy material, there was an emphasis on duets with Sting, Gabriel, and The Fugees' Wyclef Jean, who also contributed some remixes. That disc was never released in America. However, N'Dour now has a new label, Nonesuch, which has issued Joko (The Link). Shoter, and decidedly more African, it's ditched most of the duets and the remixes, and added two more very Senegalese tracks, "Miss" and the brand new, hardcore mbalax of "Mademba (The Electricity Is Out Again)." The tracks have also been re-sequenced to give a much richer feel to the listening experience. The son of a mechanic and a griot (a singing mix of oral historian, praise-giver, and adviser), N'Dour grew up in the rough Medina section of Dakar, Senegal's capital. Even when young, he sang locally, creating a sensation with his vocal ability, and by the time he was 16, he was one of the singers with the Star Band, one of Senegal's seminal groups. Leaving them, he joined Etoile de Dakar, before forming his own Super Etoile de Dakar, whose personnel has remained remarkably stable for almost two decades, with guitarist Jimi Mbaye and bassist Habib Faye at the core of the exciting sound. Like many Senegalese, N'Dour is follower of Cheikh Amadou Bamba, the late Senegalese-Muslim saint who brought the Africanized Islam of Mouridism to the country, and spirituality has long been an important part of his music, along with the more traditional griotism; indeed, the two find a common home in the celebratory "Birima," for several years the centerpiece of N'Dour's live set. But as his horizons have expanded, so has his music.
While still based in Africa, it looks outward around the world, as on "This Dream," his collaboration with Peter Gabriel, and his work with artists from Paul Simon to jazz saxophonist Branford Marsalis. N'Dour keeps his roots strong, but the frontiers have come down. The magazine Folk Roots crowned him Africa's Artist of the Century, and African journal Nouvel Horizon named him Senegalese Person of the Century. His impact has been, and remains, undeniable, and, in spite of the long silence, his creativity hasn't dried up. And the wondrous voice remains as powerful as ever.

(content coutresy: http://www.globalvillageidiot.net/NDour.html)

A.R. Rahman launches first Indian orchestra 'Global Music'

Chennai: After waiting for seven years, India's most famous contemporary music composer A.R. Rahman on Wednesday launched his first full-fledged orchestra. It has been named "Global Music" and is the first homegrown orchestra."I kept hearing someone is setting up an orchestra and waited for seven long years for someone else to set up an orchestra like the New York, London or Budapest Philharmonic in India. But it did not happen", Rahman, whose recent works include music for "Guru" and "Jodhaa Akbar", told the media here."Whenever I want to compose for an orchestra, I have to go to London or Budapest," he complained.The music maestro announced setting up of the orchestra along with the launch of his KM Conservatory, a music school for professional musicians in the outskirts of the city.The orchestra, to be fully operational in the next two years, will have both Indian as well as Western musicians. "It will play combinations of two kinds of instruments. There is so much talent in India, but we have no symphony orchestra," Rahman told the media.He also said the orchestra was expected to bring more professionalism even in film music and introduce millions of Indian music-lovers to "opera and concert as entertainment".The symphony orchestra will be in the western mode, both as a resident studio orchestra to perform his own composition for the music industry and for the people in Chennai and elsewhere in India.This orchestra will be populated by professional musicians of international standard, both from India and abroad.The KM Conservatory of Music, in collaboration with Audio Media Education, an Apple-authorized training centre, which opens in June this year, will concentrate on instrumental and vocal music, both Indian and Western, and music technology."In order to bring the music culture to India, where music can be taken as a serious professional option and flourish in the coming generations, training young professionals is essential," Rahman said.The accomplished composer, who is trying to create opportunities for Indian wannabes, has carved a niche for himself outside the Indian film industry. He collaborated with international composer Andrew Lloyd Webber for "Bombay Dreams". Then he teamed up with the Finnish folk music band Varttina and composed for "The Lord of the Rings" theatre production and also did a piece, "Raga's Dance" for Vanessa Mae's album "Choreography".Source: Indo-Asian News Service