Could the Grammy go to?

Anoushka Shankar has become accustomed to finding her name among the list of Grammy-nominated artistes. While her work was consistently recognised from 2013 to 2017, she says earning a nod for Love Letters is different. “Those who follow my music appreciated the fact that they got a glimpse into my life because its song-writing is special. It is raw and vulnerable. I’m going to draw your attention to a song called Bright eyes, which was created with [Alev Lenz]. This album was made over a [significant] period of time, and in bits and pieces. Often, there were gaps between recording sessions. If I had written a song a while ago [while encountering] a sense of pain, and no longer felt that way six months later, I’d encourage her to alter it and showcase the protagonist as one who has healed,” says Shankar, adding that she has a tendency to disguise emotions reflected in her songs while packaging them before the release. “But, [Lenz discouraged] the idea. She said the song came from a broken place, and must be retained as it is. She said any other emotion would be best explored in another number. Retaining the entity was good production-advice.” But revisiting the grief when she no longer experienced it required role play. “Parallels can always be drawn between music creation and acting. You have to draw from what may not be your current experience.”

In the Best Global Music Album category, she contends against Nigerian singer Burna Boy, the Afroband Antibalas, Brazilian-American artiste Bebel Gilberto and Tuareg band Tinariwen. While she is delighted to bag a spot among such celebrated artistes, she considers the category a tricky one to navigate. “This is the only category in which I am nominated, even though my music cuts across genres. It is a tricky one, because, how [can one compare] the best Brazilian artiste’s song with a flamenco record of another musician, or even with a track from India? There’s no way [one can] pit these albums against each other. So, we’re basically competing against everything that’s [not] American music. I don’t know what the solution to this is.”