Prom 62 (4.09.20) Ansoushka Shankar: New Explorations.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Anoushka Shankar, Gold Panda and Manu Delago perform 'The Sitar and the Hang', with the Britten Sinfonia conducted by Jules Buckley.


Anoushka Shankar sitar
Gold Panda live electronics
Manu Delago percussion
Britten Sinfonia
Jules Buckley conductor

Boundary-crossing, multi-Grammy-nominated sitar player and composer Anoushka Shankar returns to the Proms, showcasing two of her most recent collaborations.

In the centenary year of her father Ravi Shankar’s birth and with the aim of presenting ‘ragas and the sitar in a new light’, she combines recordings of some of his works both with her own sitar improvisations and with live electronics by composer/producer Gold Panda.

Alongside conductor and arranger Jules Buckley, Anoushka Shankar has produced new arrangements of her own pieces for the Britten Sinfonia strings, who are joined by her regular collaborator percussionist Manu Delago. Among them are ‘Wandering Around’, ‘Voice of the Moon’, ‘Land of Gold’ and ‘Chasing Shadows’.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This interesting Prom makes me wonder whether the BBC could have used the no audience situation to promote more adventurous concerts than normal.

[bluestateprommer]

Given the lack of comment, perhaps this may be a case of me listening to this Prom so that the rest of you don't have to . AS' musicianship is outstanding, as you would expect, but I'm of mixed mind on the musical content. It struck me as very much a kind of a zone-out / chill-out listening session, where all the pieces pretty much ran one into the other. This one is probably more rewarding to watch as well as hear, so the iPlayer video might be a better way to experience this particular Prom. (No videos accessible in the USA via iPlayer. Such is life.)