The latest offering is Breathing Under Water, an album in collaboration with Karsh Kale and music legends like her father Pandit Ravi Shankar, Sting and sister Norah Jones. The album is a fusion of Indian classical, electronica, dance and folk music, making it a genre hopping triumph. Her first big break was Rise, an album she composed and produced.

Q: You said that ‘Rise’ was a freeing experience for you. What did ‘Breathing Under Water’ mean for you?

A: ‘Breathing Under Water’ was going the whole hog. ‘Rise’ was that initial freedom that happened and it was testing the water. ‘Breathing Under Water’ was like diving in there. It was definitely something where my whole experience was no holds barred. It was just about making whatever kind of music I wanted to make.

Q: You are not apologetic about the fact that you have brought in Sting, Norah Jones and a whole host of people on to the album? Are you okay with the sister and daughter tag and are not apologetic about that?

A: What if I were, what difference would it make? What if I wanted to shrug it off and then what is going to happen? So I am very comfortable with the way my life is, when it comes to tags.

‘Rise’ was for me the first time that I was composing a record. I had done three records before that, which were largely composed by my father and in the style of my father. So, ‘Rise’ was very personal and I didn’t want something like guest artists to take away from the credit, being focused on the fact that I was composing, writing and this was my baby.

In ‘Breathing Under Water’, I didn’t feel the same need to be possessive about all the corners of the record, because it was a collaborative record between Karsh Kale and myself.

Q: It must have been important for you to bring all of this together. Was that a concern that you would be able to mesh everybody together and bring the whole album together?

A: On a production level, that is where it is different thinking as a composer or as a producer. As a composer, you are just thinking musically. As a producer, you are trying to make sense of all the things that you have done and bring it together into a cohesive mode.

Q: What is more challenging-the role of a musician role or a producer?

A: Doing both is a challenging thing, because at times you need a second person to come and tell you that you are going in the wrong direction. When you are doing all of those things, you run the risk of being too possessive about the whole thing and having it fall flat.

Having a big collaboration prevented that to a large degree. But we approached this album very much the way one would approach casting a movie. It wasn’t necessarily about bringing all these people together in a way that was making sense, but about each person’s role and what they were playing in the course of this story that we wanted to tell on the record. 

Q: Who laid out the story or the framework?

A: Karsh Kale and I did. Right from the beginning, we had this whole inception point conversation, of the type of journey we wanted to trace musically. That was perhaps going to mirror the lives that we lead culturally.

Q: How did you decide which artist you wanted to bring in and collaborate with? There’s a wide mix-Sting, Shankar Mahadevan, Sunidhi Chauhan and there is Norah.

A: My father was one of the first markers. On a record that’s tracing the journey of Indian music, there is no one like him who can come on and lend that kind of weight to the record. So, he was one of the first names. Sting is someone that Karsh and I independently have been hugely influenced by. I have worked with Sting before and have that relationship.

Q: What’s it like to produce an album that featured Sting?

A: It’s definitely one of those dreams come true clichés, for someone you look up to and are influenced by and you reach that stage where you are writing songs for them. That’s an amazing thing to get to do. For both of us, we were thrilled to have Sting on the record.

Q: What was it like to finally go out there and do something with Norah, on a personal as well as professional level?

A: On a professional level, I don’t know if I can judge what that’s done for me. I can only say on personal level, as a musician she is someone I am happy to have worked with. She has this uncanny ability to grasp your story and lend her voice to it. It takes it a little further and that is exactly what you want.

Q: Are you making more of an effort to understand the sort of music that she does?

A: No, I have always been supportive of her sort of music. I am not like a country fan and I am not a Jazz aficionado even though I love Jazz. Similar to her, she loves coming to my shows but she couldn’t really wax eloquently about ragas. So on a musical level, it was an interesting thing to get to do and on a personal level, it was wonderful thing to get to do.

Q: What it is like to put a band together? I read that in New York in about two days you brought together about nine different musicians and set up a band and performed in 48 hours? What is that experience like because musicians aren’t the easiest people in the world to deal with, or are they? You all have your egos, don’t you?

A: When I am doing something like putting a band together chemistry is paramount for me. As long as I can help it, I can’t work with people with whom I don’t have a natural affinity. There has got to be spark, fun, flair and love.

Q: So, what do you look for?

A: If you are looking for someone to be in your band, there are different qualities that are necessary than what I might enjoy in a soloist. Someone has to have the ability to learn and retain your stuff. So far in my bands, I am playing my composition and showcasing my stuff. People need to learn it and be able to add their own magic to my vision. I need people who are able to work in a group without an ego is key.

It is exhilarating process. This has all been new to me. Until four years ago, I was touring only as a classical sitarist, which I obviously love. I started touring solo when I was 17-18. Since then, I am touring full time alone and with him. I love getting to do that too, but there is definitely a different magic to sort of having a band. That camaraderie with people more within my own peer group and so on, which has only opened up for me since Rise. So, I had about three different bands since then. There was the Rise ensemble that toured for two years around the world and that was an amazing experience. Then Anoushka Shankar project is usually 5-6 musicians and then Karsh and I for Breathing Under Water had to create different bands from different countries.

Q: What is it like when you are on tour and especially when you are recording an album because I believe you spend 12-14 hours a day practicing and sometimes about 10 hours at a stretch? What’s it like, when do you do switch off and take sometime out and then come back?

A: Sometimes there are days when we don’t get to switch off. People don’t always realize how hard touring is. I don’t like it when people crib about it, because ultimately we are all getting to do what we love to do. I love performing. But touring is hard. There is so much high stress stuff that happens, something like losing your instruments or having your instrument broken or whatever it might be. It is a very high stressed type of life and you do sometimes go in a bit of a cocoon with your fellow musicians.

Q: So, how do you check out?

A: I vegetate a lot. There is definitely that element when you are going every second and there is something very amazing about it of being able to stay in bed one afternoon and read a book, take a bath or whatever. I am also a big fan of going out and getting steam off as well. Then it is time to get along with my band because that’s your family when you are on the road. So, we all get along and do stuff together.

The chosen one of Time magazines 20 Asian heroes in 2004, Anoushka has had a spectacular debut. Now, five albums old she is ready to push the envelope and create a sound that is truly her own.

Q: You are doing a whole host of things. You have acted a bit, dance, and write a column. Are we going to see you spend a little more time on any of the other aspects that you enjoy doing?

A: Yes, films for example. I would definitely like to do at least one more project that I can walk away from and say I really did my best. I loved Dance like a Man, it was a great film but I did not really get too offer as much as I could have, it being my first experience, kind of very quick shoots, and all that. I walked away immediately feeling like I could have done better. So, it will be nice if can do at least one more.

Q: I am sure the offers have come in?

A: They come in a lot. I get a lot of offers but I would not say there was nothing exciting. Most of the times it is not necessarily relevant or dates do not work out. A lot of the times it was because on the classical circuit globally we book about two years in advance.

Q: Any offers from Bollywood or is it kind of multiplex sort of cinema?

A: A lot of Bollywood offers. A kind of independent Indian cinema, English-Hindi combination, and so on.

Q: Would you be happy doing a Bollywood movie though?

A: I do not think so. I would not say never because I might change my mind. I do not think so. That’s just the type of person I am. I am not making pop records for example. I am not necessarily into something for the sake of having the largest amount of sales and viewership. I would want some kind of quality. So, quality can happen in Bollywood. I would say yes at some point but that is not what I am hungry for.

Q: Writing?

A: More than acting, writing is more inherent to me. That is something I really love. I have wrote a biography on my dad and contributed to other books. Over the years, people write and ask me to write an article or something like that. I have always loved writing. So, that is something more than acting. I would say I love to do more.

Q: You are back on the road in a couple of weeks and are going to be out of India. Are you going to be spending more time in India now three-four months specially?

A: I tend to come back in summer a little bit more for personal reasons just to visit and so on. But yes usually it is just about three-four months in the winter. That does get frustrating because there is obviously so much work that I want to do here as well. This again is largely because thing get booked so far in advance abroad. I kind of let myself get roped in to not being here as much as I like which I do want to change now from this next year or so.

Q: So, we are going to see a lot more of you in India?

A: I hope so.

Q: Any specific projects that you are going to be working on while you are here?

A: Now, I am just kind of wrapping up. We have this festival going on here in association with WFP and the Center. I will be touring like crazy this year. I am touring with my dad’s project and, some classical stuff.

Q: You are working with the World for Food Programme and have been involved with PETA in the past as well, how connected are you with the causes that you promote?

A: I try not to lend my voice or name to anything that I do not have a genuine affinity for. I cannot give lip service to something. Especially with WFP, that is something that I wanted to be involved with and do whatever I could to help them like to raise their profile here in India and get aid a little bit more.

PETA is such a major organization already. It is not like they need me in quite the same way, but I have grown up as an animal lover.

Q: Give us a sense of what 2008 has in store for you and a glimpse for your fans on what to expect?

A: I am working on a new record, which I probably won’t see releasing until 2009.

Q: Is it a sort of collaboration?

A: I have definitely wanted to come back to roots a little bit on this record after pushing. I want to go come back in a little bit, so it is working within a classical format a little bit more. I have got a lot of really amazing landmark shows with my dad coming up. He is doing a series of nature concerts in London, Paris, New York and so on. I am touring Australia, and New Zealand for the first time, so I am very excited. That is a new part of the world for me. There will be again about 80 concerts coming up before November. I will be packing it in.