Anoushka Shankar returns to India at a reflective yet forward-looking moment in her journey. Though she missed out on the Grammys this year despite a double nomination, anticipation around her music has only grown, with audiences eager to experience her live performance. That wait culminated in Hyderabad, where she recently performed at The League, opening her Chapters Tour. More than a concert, it felt like a homecoming — as Anoushka brought three decades of musical evolution to a city rich in personal memory, classical depth, and a curious modern audience.
Marking 30 years since she first stepped on stage, Anoushka reflects on how profoundly her relationship with performance has evolved. “It blows my mind that I’ve been touring for 30 years. I started so young, so the journey has been a real evolution if I look at what it was like performing when I was 13 compared to now,” she begins. For her, the transformation has been organic rather than abrupt. She continues, “The biggest transformation has been more of a long, gentle unfolding rather than a dramatic shift.”
Decades of touring have brought a deepening sense of ease. She notes, “Being able to tour and perform around the world for such a long time has given me immense experience, which has helped me grow in comfort and confidence as a performer. The biggest difference now is my level of vulnerability on stage and my ability to really share from the heart. As a nervous beginner, performing was much scarier. I thought a lot about outcomes and presentation from an outward point of view. Now it’s much more internal.”
The Chapters Tour draws its name and emotional architecture from a trilogy of albums released over the last two years. The sitarist explains, “The tour is titled Chapters Tour because it’s the culmination of the last three albums I’ve released over the past two years, which form a trilogy. Chapter One: Forever, For Now, Chapter Two: How Dark It Is Before Dawn, and Chapter Three: We Return to Light. They trace a journey across time — moving from a place of real pain, into healing, and finally into the strength of a new day.”
Bringing this tour to India carries a resonance that goes beyond geography. “It means a lot to bring this tour back home, not just in the usual way it always does, because of course it always means a lot to tour India. But this journey actually started here. The seed of these three chapters came to me while I was sitting by the sea in Goa. The band I formed for this journey also had our debut shows in India three years ago, before any of the chapters existed,” she expresses.
Hyderabad, in particular, holds a special place in her heart. “Hyderabad has a really diverse audience — there’s a deeply knowledgeable classical audience and also a very broad, curious listening audience,” she states. The city is also tied to childhood memory. She recounts, “My greatest memory is my first time coming to Hyderabad, which was when my parents got married. I was seven years old. I can’t think of Hyderabad without remembering that really happy childhood experience.”
The influence of her father and guru, Pt Ravi Shankar, continues to shape her philosophy of music. She recollects, “There were countless lessons I learned from him over decades of playing at his side, but the biggest lesson was one I observed rather than was told. Even in his ’90s, even at the pinnacle of our musical form, he approached music as a student. He used to say that you climb a mountain and all you see is a further vista. He never believed he had conquered music — there was always more to learn. That taught me everything about the spiritual nature of art, that it is an ever-evolving exploration of the soul and the human experience. That continues to influence everything I do.”
Carrying such a formidable legacy has never been simple: “Because he was my father and guru, I could see very early the weight of expectation people placed on me, and also the judgment and criticism that came even before people had really heard my music.” Learning to detach from external opinion was essential. She recounts, “I knew from the beginning that there were things I had no control over — other people’s opinions. If I based my artistic fulfillment on that, I would be lost. So from the start, I asked myself: why am I a musician? Yes, I learned from my father. Yes, his legacy matters to me. But what is authentic to me? What do I need to express? What do I have to give? It’s not always easy, but I’ve accepted that not everything I do will please everyone — and that’s okay if it’s honest.”
Looking ahead, her work remains in motion. “I’ll be continuing to tour the world with all three albums now that they’re out. Beyond that, I’m working on new composition projects and some really exciting collaborations — though I can’t name anyone yet,” she concludes.