Nine-time Grammy-nominated sitarist, producer, film composer and impassioned activist Anoushka Shankar will be awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of Oxford, it was announced today. The prestigious recognition is being conferred “in recognition of her outstanding achievements within the music industry” and underscores Anoushka’s profound influence on the global music landscape and her unwavering commitment to bridging cultural divides through her art. In a noteworthy first, Anoushka achieves the distinction of being the first musician of Indian origin to be conferred with this coveted honour.
Grammy-nominated sitarist Anoushka Shankar to be awarded Honorary Degree from the University of Oxford on June 19: “This is truly a pinch-me moment in my career”
Anoushka Shankar shares, “This is truly a pinch-me moment in my career; I never even dreamed I might receive an honour such as this, let alone from one of the most prestigious Universities in the world. I am deeply grateful to Oxford University for conferring me with an Honorary Degree. I also feel reflective and grateful for all my past teachers that got me to this point: I was fortunate to have had the most precious education in music under the guidance of my father, and unbelievable coaching and support in my career aged thirteen onwards from my mother. This is all thanks to them.”
Anoushka will be awarded her degree on June 19th at the world-famous university’s annual Encaenia academic ceremony alongside Warren East, Sir Demis Hassabis, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Sir Michael Palin and Professor Salim Yusuf as part of a total 2024 cohort of six honorary degrees.
On the recent professional front, Anoushka has released the first two instalments of her mini-album trilogy with Chapter I: Forever, For Now in October of last year followed by Chapter II: How Dark It Is Before Dawn in April this year. March 2024 saw the release of her duet A Rock Somewhere with six-time Grammy(logo) Award-winning British musician Jacob Collier as part of his latest album Djesse Vol. 4.
Currently in her 30th year of performing live as a sitarist, she has been on an extensive global tour across four continents during the 2023-24 season, delivering monumental performances in sold-out venues including Sydney Opera House, Delhi’s Siri Fort, Toronto’s Koerner Hall, Pioneer Works in New York, Philharmonie de Paris and the Barbican, London.
Anoushka Shankar is a singular figure in the Indian classical and progressive world music scenes. Her dynamic and spiritual musicality has garnered several prestigious accolades, including nine GRAMMY nominations, credit as an Asian Hero by TIME magazine, an Ivor Novello Award Nomination, a Songlines Best Artist Award, becoming the youngest and first female recipient of a British House of Commons Shield and becoming an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Deeply rooted in the Indian classical music tradition, she studied exclusively from the age of 9 under her father and guru, the late Ravi Shankar, and made her professional debut as a classical sitarist at 13. Immersed from a young age on the world stage, she is a singular, genre-defying artist across realms – classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic. Through her bold and collaborative approach to composing,
Anoushka has created a vital body of work that features artists including Sting, M.I.A., Herbie Hancock, Arooj Aftab and Joshua Bell. Since her third studio album, 2005’s Rise, Anoushka has explored ways to slip the sitar into new contexts. She has used the instrument to address contemporary social issues—the Syrian refugee crisis, or violence against women in India—and make grand arguments about the interconnectedness of different musical traditions. She has also broadened her interests to include composing for visual media, scoring music for 2017’s British Film Institute restoration of the 1927 Indian silent film Shiraz and co-composing the score to Mira Nair’s BBC six-part series A Suitable Boy.
ALSO READ: Anoushka Shankar scores two nominations for the 2023 Grammy Awards; says, “It was truly a stunning moment to realize”
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