Anoushka Shankar
Anoushka Hemangini Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American[1][2] sitar player and musician of Indian descent,[3][4] as well as occasional writer and actor. She performs across multiple genres and styles—classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic.[5][6] In addition to releasing seven solo studio albums beginning with Anoushka (1998), she has also worked alongside a wide variety of musicians, including Karsh Kale on the full-length collaboration Breathing Under Water (2007) and her father Ravi Shankar. She has received nine[7] Grammy Awards nominations and was the first musician of Indian origin to perform live and to serve as a presenter at the ceremony.[8] She was the youngest and first woman to receive a British House of Commons Shield.
Anoushka Shankar
- British
- American
- Sitarist
- composer
2
- Ravi Shankar (father)
- Norah Jones (half-sister)
- Shubhendra Shankar (half-brother)
London
1995–present
Early life[edit]
Shankar was born in London and her childhood was divided between London and Delhi. She is the daughter of Sukanya Shankar and Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, who was 61 when she was born. Through her father, she is also the half-sister of American singer Norah Jones (born Geetali Norah Shankar), and Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar, who died in 1992.
As a teenager, Shankar lived in Encinitas, California, and attended San Dieguito High School Academy. A 1999 honours graduate and homecoming queen, she pursued a career in music rather than attending college.[9]
Activism[edit]
Shankar is an activist working with multiple causes and charitable organisations, in particular supporting women and refugees; she is also an advocate for animal rights.
One Billion Rising
In 2013, responding to the horrific gang-rape of a young girl in Delhi, whom the Indian media referred to as Nirbhaya, Shankar threw her weight behind an online campaign One Billion Rising on Change.org,[48] demanding an end to crime against women.[49] As part of the campaign, she released a video in which she revealed she had been sexually abused for many years as a child.[50]
UNHCR – The UN Refugee Agency
In 2018 she joined musicians, actors and artists such as Patrick Stewart, Peter Capaldi, Vivienne Westwood, Anish Kapoor, The Kaiser Chiefs and many others in a call to urge MPs to attend the Refugees Family Reunion Bill and ensure refugee families torn apart by war and conflict are reunited.[51]
Help Refugees
Shankar is one of the faces of the Help Refugees campaign to raise funds and awareness for the refugee crisis worldwide.[35]
The F-List
In 2020 Shankar was announced as the inaugural President of the F-List: a UK database created to help bridge the gender gap in music.[52]
Pin Your Thanks
In 2020 Shankar designed a pin for the "Pin Your Thanks" initiative that supports the National Health Service (NHS) charities during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.[53]
The Walk
She is an ambassador for The Walk, an international artistic project in support of refugees.[54]
UN World Food Programme
In 2007 the UN World Food Programme appointed Shankar as spokesperson to raise awareness about the issues of hunger and malnutrition, especially among children, in India.[55]
PETA
Shankar and her father, also a supporter of animal rights, appeared in a thirty-second public-service announcement against animal suffering for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).[56]
Artists4Ceasfire
In October 2023, Shankar signed the Artists4Ceasefire open letter to Joe Biden, President of the United States, calling for a ceasefire in the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.[57]
Personal life[edit]
Shankar is the daughter of Pandit Ravi Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, and the half-sister of Norah Jones and Shubhendra Shankar. She grew up in the US, the UK, and India. In 2010, she married British director Joe Wright.[58] They have two sons (born 2011 and 2015). They separated in December 2017 and finalised their divorce in September 2019. She lives in London with her sons.[59]