Anoushka Shankar in San Francisco

The urge to build bridges flows through sitar star Anoushka Shankar’s veins. The daughter of legendary sitar master Ravi Shankar, she was raised straddling east and west, moving between London, Delhi and California. A dedicated acolyte of her father who has immersed herself in classical Hindustani music, Anoushka has forged an independent identity by collaborating with a vast array of artists from jazz icon Herbie Hancock and violinist Joshua Bell to the DJ duo Thievery Corporation, rock band Jethro Tull and Asian Underground pioneer Karsh Kale. Following 2013’s Traces of You, which featured guest vocals from her sister and pop superstar Norah Jones, and 2015’s pure Indian project Home, Shankar’s newest Deutsche Grammofon release is a topical commentary on the global refugee crisis currently gripping the world, entitled Land of Gold. In Shankar’s words, “Land of Gold is the culmination of my journey to the interior, channeling my distress at the situation in a constructive way, exploring the stories of the voiceless and dispossessed. I believe that art can make a difference – it connects us to our hearts, bringing us back to what really matters. Music has the power to speak to the soul. The central message of Land of Gold as the recognition of the resilience of the human spirit and of our capacity to find the place where enduring hope resides.”