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Ravi Shankar’s daughter Norah Jones in concert

“He has certain standards,” Anoushka says. “No-one is forcing you to play, but if you’re playing, this is a tradition that needs to be respected, that you need to give yourself to, and so that wasn’t really negotiable. He was strict but, unlike his guru, he was sweet about it.” Although Anoushka has clearly benefited from her father’s teaching, Norah Jones’ success suggests nature is as important as nurture. Ravi separated from Sue Jones when their daugh- ter was eight and he didn’t see Norah for 10 years after that. “I wish I had not lost out on those years with her, but by God’s grace all is well and I am so happy to have got her back,” Ravi says. “I had no chance to teach her Indian music, but with her tremendous talent and unique voice, she is what she is today.” Today she is the most successful female artist of the past decade, having sold more than 36 million records. In 2007, Jones collaborated with her half-sister on a song for Anoushka’s album Breathing Under Water. Anoushka says her father, who has been criticised for straying outside Indian classical traditions to collaborate with Menuhin, Glass and Harrison, has been supportive of such experiments. “I think traditional music isn’t necessarily frozen and static,” she says. “I’m always very curious and fascinated by experi- menting within traditions because to me that is a valid way to keep it alive, if it keeps moving and keeps growing.” But Anoushka is also aware of the burden of being her father’s daughter. “I feel simultaneously a responsibility and passion for the Indian classical music I’ve learned and, on a personal level, I feel the desire to create and be free,” she says. “I think that is similar to my father because he has always been a classical sitarist, but that has not imposed any limitations on him as a musician.” Ravi has no concert dates planned after his Australian tour and has talked of retiring, but Anoushka has learned that her father is not always predictable. “I can’t quite figure him out,” she says. “The Indian classical music tradition of performing is extremely improvised, so when musicians are playing together there is invariably a lot of surprises. Something I’ve learned to love more and more is that improvised quality.”

Ravi & Anoushka Shankar perform at WOMADelaide, March 8; Sydney Opera House, March 15-16; and Hamer Hall, Melbourne

Arts Centre, March 20. www.womadelaide.com.au GETTYPHOTOGRAPHY: IMAGES

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