It was all about music and family when sitarist Anoushka Shankar shared the stage with her half-sister singer Norah Jones at the North Sea Jazz Festival. Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones, who are daughters of the late sitar virtuoso Pandit Ravi Shankar, performed their song Traces of You for the audience in what marked their first live performance together.
Anoushka Shankar shared a video of their performance on her Instagram page on Tuesday. The clip begins with the singer introducing her sister Norah to the audience. She says, "We have worked together a few times before, but we have never done it on stage before, so this feels really exciting and I'd really love to introduce my sister Norah Jones."
Norah Jones enters the stage next and the sisters hold each other in a deep embrace before they settle down for their performance. Anoushka Shankar starts by playing the sitar, setting the tone for a mesmerising musical experience, followed by Norah Jones with her melodious voice blending harmoniously with the sitar's intricate notes.
Traces of You, which was released in 2013, was the seventh studio album by Anoushka Shankar which featured vocals by Norah Jones in three songs, including the title track.
In the caption of her post, Anoushka Shankar wrote, "Well THAT was special! With no exaggeration, something truly unforgettable happened at @northseajazz this weekend. My beautiful sister @norahjones joined me onstage for an impromptu song- our first time EVER performing together!"
She added, "We did ‘Traces of You' — a song we recorded over a decade ago, and it felt so precious to revisit it together now. Sitting beside her on stage, bringing this music to life as a duo lifetimes in the making, was truly a moment Huge love to everyone who joined us and helped make this dream a reality."
While Anoushka Shankar is a renowned sitarist who blends multiple genres and styles such as classical and contemporary, acoustic and electronic in her music, Norah Jones has gained fame as a jazz and pop singer-songwriter.
Despite pursuing different musical paths and having different mothers (Norah Jones's mother is Sue Jones and Anoushka Shankar's mother is Sukanya Rajan), the sisters share a close bond.