The hypnotising sound of the sitar will be creating a buzz when seven times Grammy nominee Anoushka Shankar performs in Wales for the very first time.
Shankar will be taking centre stage at the
Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod at 8pm on Friday, July 8, and
tickets are on sale now as the event prepares to celebrate its 75th
anniversary.
She was taught how to play the instrument by her
father, the legendary musician Ravi Shankar, who performed with The Beatles.
Father and daughter worked together with George
Harrison to create the landmark album, Chants of India, but Anoushka has carved
out a remarkable career in world music in her own right.
The English-Indian-American musician has
collaborated with artists including Sting, Herbie Hancock, Jeff Beck and her
half-sister, Norah Jones.
She has performed at the BBC Proms and Glastonbury
and has won legions of fans worldwide, but Llangollen Eisteddfod is her first
appearance in Wales and she says she is very excited by the prospect.
After the Second World War, the original concept
for Llangollen Eisteddfod was a musical event that could promote education and
international peace and goodwill and these are ambitions close to Shankar's
heart.
She said: "My father, Ravi Shankar, had a core
belief in the concept of peace through music and I was immersed from childhood
in experiencing the transformative quality of music.
"It feels like society as a whole can forget
how investing time, effort, money and energy into the arts actually brings
about an 'upliftment' of society as a whole into connection and peace."
Shankar has herself frequently performed at benefit
concerts and in 2018 she embarked on a short US tour to help raise funds for
the non-profit organisation, Help Refugees.
More recently, she has turned her considerable
talents to writing film scores, including the music for the series, A Suitable
Boy, adapted from Vikram Seth's novel, which won an Ivor Novello nomination.
"I am finding the idea of composing for visual
mediums more interesting after a couple of decades of primarily touring and
writing albums," she said.
"It certainly draws a new and different
audience but also requires something different of me as a musician which I find
challenging and fulfilling."
The Llangollen festival has become an established
and much-loved home for world music, so Shankar's appearance is a natural fit.
The evening programme celebrates her father’s
legacy, as well as featuring orchestral arrangements of Anoushka’s own eclectic
output.
She will join forces with Austrian percussionist,
composer, Hang-player and Björk collaborator Manu Delago and the strings of the
Britten Sinfonia, for an evening that promises to transport the audience on to
a wild and mystical ride.
"Manu is one of my favourite
collaborators," said Shankar. "He's a brilliant musician and also we
wrote many songs together over the years, so getting to replay them with him
now, years after we used to tour and play them together more frequently is a
genuine treat."
She says her music is always evolving and the
audience at Llangollen can expect some new interpretations for her first Welsh
performance.
"I can't pick favourites but in context of
Jules Buckley's gorgeous arrangements for orchestra. I particularly love
hearing this version of Land of Gold come to life," Shankar added.
"It's amazing hearing a song that started as a
duo, then a song, grow across orchestral strings."
The festival, which helped launch the careers of
opera superstars Luciano Pavarotti and Sir Bryn Terfel, had to be cancelled in
2020 for the only time since its inauguration due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In 2021 it took on a virtual format, with performances
streamed online, but this year the music and dance extravaganza is back in the
town where “Wales welcomes the world”.
Preparations are well under way for this year’s
festival, which starts on Thursday, July 7 and culminates with Llanfest on Sunday,
July 10, when the eisteddfod will join forces with the Llangollen Fringe
Festival.
During the four-day event, there will be a host of
new attractions and activities on the revamped outdoor site, including music,
dance, talks, comedy, food, drink, shopping, workshops and pop-up
entertainment.
The competitions will reach a crescendo on the Saturday
night with 'Choir of the World, and the contest for the Pendine International
Voice of the Future, featuring the finest young singers from across the globe.
* To buy tickets go to www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk/tickets_for_llangollen_eisteddfod/
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