ANOUSHKA SHANKAR & AROOJ AFTAB PERFORMTHE LEAD SINGLE "UDHERO NA" FROM AROOJ'S LATEST ALBUM, VULTURE PRINCE(DELUXE EDITION)
Nine-Time GRAMMY® Award Nominee Anoushka Shankar Is Up For Two New 2023 Nominations:
"Best Global Music Album"
Between Us... (Live) with Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley Featuring Manu Delago
"Best Global Music Performance"
"Udhero Na" with Arooj Aftab
London, England -- Friday, January 27, 2023 --Acclaimed sitar virtuoso, producer, film composer, and activist Anoushka Shankar will perform at the 65th Annual GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony® as it returns to the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, Calif. Nine-time GRAMMY® Award Nominee Anoushka Shankar performs with Arooj Aftab on the lead single "Udhero Na" from Arooj's new album, Vulture Prince(Deluxe Edition). "Udhero Na" is up for "Best Global Music Performance" and Shankar's latest album, Between Us... (Live) with Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley Featuring Manu Delago, is also nominated for "Best Global Music Album." The 65th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony will stream live on Sun, Feb. 5, 2023, at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT on the Recording Academy's YouTube channel and on live.GRAMMY.com.
Anoushka Shankar was the first Indian artist to perform at the GRAMMYs® (2005) and the first Indian female musician ever nominated in addition to becoming the youngest-ever nominee in her category in 2002. In 2013, Shankar and her sister Norah Jones accepted the Recording Academy's "Lifetime Achievement Award"for their late father the legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar at the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards. In 2021 (63rd GRAMMY Awards) and now 2023, Shankar performs at the Premiere Ceremony for the 65th GRAMMY Awards.
Shankar shares, "I'm genuinely over the moon to be performing at the GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony® for the third time. This time, I'm excited to share the stage with the wonderful Arooj Aftab, playing her beautiful song, 'Udhero Na.' I'm grateful my music -- both on this song and on my album Between Us... -- has been recognized with a nomination again and am proud to share my instrument, the sitar, with people on this world stage."
New Single by Anoushka Shankar -- "In Her Name"
In addition to her two nominations for the 65th Annual GRAMMY® Awards, Shankar has released a new single, "In Her Name" (LEITER/December 16, 2022), featuring words by the renowned British-Indian poet Nikita Gill and recited in spoken word by Shankar. As reported by GRAMMY.com on January 5, 2023 in their story, "Anoushka Shankar Wrote A Composition Standing Up For Women & Girls. 10 Years Later, She Questions How Far We've Come," Shankar brings urgent attention to the ongoing global crisis of violence and sexual violence against women with the release of "In Her Name" commemorating 10 years since the terrible incident which initially inspired it, the 2012 gang rape in Delhi of Jyoti Singh, who died from her injuries 13 days later. "In Her Name" is a newly recorded -- and substantially developed -- version of a track originally released in 2013 as "In Jyoti's Name," included on Shankar's Traces Of You album. To learn more and view the music video for "In Her Name," please visit: https://leiter.lnk.to/InHerName.
Between Us... (Live) with Metropole Orkest & Jules Buckley Featuring Manu Delago
Released on June 24, 2022, Between Us... features Shankar's regular collaborator -- and master of the Hang a.k.a. hand pan -- Manu Delago alongside Holland's Metropole Orkest, with the seven pieces arranged and directed by Jules Buckley, the renowned orchestra's honorary conductor since 2008. The album was recorded in Amsterdam and Den Bosch during a short run of Dutch shows. Between Us... is Anoushka Shankar's first live album since 2001's Live At Carnegie Hall and draws upon material from four solo albums -- 2005's Rise, 2013's Traces of You, 2015's Traveller and 2016's Land of Gold -- and one previously unreleased track, "Jannah."
Jules Buckley clearly remembers the atmosphere at the nights they recorded Between Us.... "Everybody invested so much love and energy into the programme," he says, "that, come fight night, it really felt like an electric union between Anoushka, Manu and Metropole. I also remember a feeling of great joy from the audience." Shankar agrees, "Going on stage with an orchestra where the audience is standing and feeding back a lot of energy, I just loved that electricity. I'm used to it in other kinds of shows, but getting that in an orchestral show felt really fresh and fun. Having several shows with the same orchestra, getting to know Jules a bit more and getting really close to Manu: it felt like this is how it should be in a perfect world..."
Arooj Aftab's Vulture Prince (Deluxe Edition) Featuring Anoushka Shankar on Lead Single "Udhero Na"
Following a historic win at the 64th Grammy® Awards, Arooj Aftab released Vulture Prince (Deluxe Edition)featuring Anoushka Shankar on her lead single "Udhero Na" on June 24, 2022 via Verve. Aftab made history as the first Pakistani artist to be nominated (including "Best New Artist" and "Best Global Music Performance") and win the latter category. "Udhero Na" (translation: "please undo") updates one of Aftab's works with the electrifying sound of Shankar's sitar and Maeve Gilchrist's harp, adding a new layer of longing.
Aftab notes of the track, "'Udhero Na' has been one of my dearest songs, written in 2005 and never released, played live on and off over the years. I've always held it close to my heart and am so happy it's finally been released. It describes a very unique and fleeting emotional moment, a super underrated feeling. When the thought of someone from a very old and 'passed' relationship just pops into your head as you go about your present day to day."
About Anoushka Shankar
Sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar is a singular figure in the Indian classical and progressive world music scenes. Her dynamic and spiritual musicality has garnered several prestigious accolades, including nine GRAMMY® Award nominations, recognition as the youngest -- and first female -- recipient of a British House of Commons Shield, credit as an Asian Hero by TIME magazine, and a Songlines"Best Artist Award." Most recently, she became one of the first five female composers to have been added to the UK A-level music syllabus.
Deeply rooted in the Indian Classical music tradition, Anoushka studied exclusively from the age of nine under her father and guru, the late Ravi Shankar, and made her professional debut as a classical sitarist at the age of 13. Since launching her lauded career, Anoushka has led cross-cultural collaborations with artists such as Sting, M.I.A., Herbie Hancock, Pepe Habichuela, Karsh Kale, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Joshua Bell demonstrating the versatility of the sitar across musical genres. As an international solo sitarist, Anoushka has performed to sold-out crowds on many of the world's most revered stages such as Carnegie Hall (NYC), Barbican Centre (London), Sydney Opera House, Philharmonie (Paris), and San Francisco Opera House.
For more information regarding Anoushka Shankar, please visit: anoushkashankar.com