Sitarist Anushka Shankar, daughter of sitarist Ravi Shankar, is on cloud nine. Reason: She’s been nominated for the 2025 Grammys. Ahead of the much-awaited ceremony, Anushka sat down for an interview with NDTV’s Abira Dhar.
In one of the segments, Anushka Shankar narrated an interesting anecdote about her father. FYI: Ravi Shankar is a four-time Grammy winner. But do you know that once he lost two of his awards?
Elaborating on the subject, Anushka Shankar said, “At some point in my teenage years, my mother realized that she could not get his (Ravi Shankar’s) Grammy. It became a topic of discussion…how do you lose a grammy? He didn’t know where he was. “He said he left it in a suitcase at a friend’s house.”
Anushka Shankar said that her mother called the Grammy Foundation and requested them to give another award for Ravi Shankar. “He called them and they said, ‘Yeah, we can do that, no problem. What is it that he’s missing?’ He said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘If he gets two Grammys, which one?'” the sitarist said.
Ravi Shankar was unaware of winning two Grammys.
Finally, Anushka Shankar said, “He didn’t even know he had two Grammys. He thought he had just one. He lost two but didn’t realize he had two. That was my Grammy experience growing up. It just wasn’t what he cared about. It was about music. In a way, it’s a beautiful reminder of what’s really important. By the time I was born, he already had both.”
Ravi Shankar won his first Grammy in the Best Chamber Music Performance category for West Meets East in 1967. This was a notable collaboration with violinist Yehudi Menuhin. He died in 2012. A year later, the famous sitar player was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Meanwhile, Anushka Shankar has been nominated for the 67th Grammy Awards along with Indian artistes Ricky Cage, Radhika Vekariya, Chandrika Tandon and Varijasree Venugopal. He collaborated with British multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier on the song. A rock somewhere. The track is eyeing a win in the Best Global Music Performance category.
This year, the Grammys will take place on February 2 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
