Have you ever heard a track whose first few seconds make you stop and realize just how beautiful its composition is and that you're going to treasure it forever? Anoushka Shankar's Traces of You was that track for me.
Ever since I discovered it, three years ago, I have enjoyed its calming simplicity of sound. The track and album Traces of You is a testament to Shankar's vision and her father Pandit Ravi Shankar's legacy. While the Sitar maestro toured the world and brought his instrument to global audiences, Anoushka Shankar, with her deep roots in Indian classical training, has made her instrument's sound global. She creates without boundaries, explores unknown territories and has invented a sound that is distinctly her own. Of course, the versatility and flexibility of Indian Classical music have a role to play in this. Many artists before Shankar, too, have collaborated with musicians from other genres and produced Grammy-winning albums.
The thirteen track album has ten instrumental tracks and three accompanied by vocals by her sister Norah Jones. The album encapsulates emotions of grief, joy and love; of people passing and leaving their traces behind. The title track of the album conveys that mixed emotion--of sorrow and grief and happiness and contentment. Underlying the track's sound and lyrics is a sense of gratitude for time spent and the 'traces' left behind. It seems like Jones' and Shankar's perfect tribute to their father who passed while the album was in production.
If, this week, you are grateful for someone's presence in your life, celebrate it with Traces of You.
You can learn more about Anoushka Shankar here:
About the curator - Aarushi Aggarwal
Aarushi is a senior at college and is majoring in history and international relations. Her music library is as much home to jazz as it is to Indian classical. Her passion for discovering new music far supersedes other equally important things like finishing assignments on time. She loves dogs, coffee and chocolate.