Music - Anoushka Shankar & Norah Jones

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Anoushka Shankar & Norah Jones

the closest of sisters

Flashing identical cheeky smiles as they show off their matching tattoos, the beautiful daughters of legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar look - and are - the closest of sisters.

Both Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones also inherited their father's musical talent and have carved out successful careers of their own. Five years ago, however, the pair did not know each other - and their family history is a tale of two worlds. While Norah has shot to fame with a smoky voice and a best selling jazz-tinged album, Anoushka, by following her father and taking up the sitar, has had a lower profile. While touring Britain last year with her father, she spoke of getting to know her long-lost sister after childhoods thousands of miles apart.

While 21-year-old Anoushka enjoyed a close relationship with her father ,Norah, 23 -the daughter of his long-term lover Sue Jones - did not even know who her father was until she was 10. Anoushka, daughter of Ravi's second wife Sukanya, was born in London but jetted between here, California and Delhi as she grew up, learning her father's ancient craft. Norah grew up in a modest home in Dallas with her mother, waitressing and playing the piano in bars.

Anoushka said: "It has been wonderful getting to know Norah. She came to us when I was 16 and by the first year we were already close. So it has been a very normal relationship for the past few years. It's just weird that the press has suddenly caught onto it. Initially the intrusion was very difficult for all of us. All she was trying to do was her music without her dad being the main focus." The day Norah got back in touch with the family five years ago, Anoushka was in the middle of a lesson with her father.

She said: "A soft-spoken girl on the other end of the phone asked to speak to Mr Ravi Shankar . When she said who she was I was stunned because by then I had totally given up on the idea that we would ever have any contact with her."

There were difficulties at first, and she admits Ravi and Norah - known as Geetali, her Indian name, to her father - will probably never relate to each other fully, but the sisters are now close. "She and I have a beautiful relationship," said Anoushka. "I finally have the sister I always wanted. She is incredible. She really has one of the best voices out there. It's wonderful to see someone like her with that kind of substance and integrity getting success." Norah lives in a Brooklyn flat while Anoushka is renting a flat in West Hampstead.

She admits too much work has made her "a bit of an old woman" recently but plans to change all that by spending time with friends from her childhood in Willesden Green. "London feels like home," she said. "I've got a lovely set of friends here, so there'll be lots of parties, but also lots of working on my new album, which will be a move away from Indian classical music.

Shankar himself is delighted at the reconciliation of his daughters. "It is wonderful," he said. "It's a great feeling. I feel very happy about it. Norah was my first daughter and I missed out on eight years of her life so it is wonderful to have her back. "They have so much in common it is mind-boggling, really . In their looks, in their behaviour , in the way they are so quick-witted. They are so fantastic together."

Me and Norah Jones by Laura Smith, Evening Standard, 9th May 2003

When Norah Jones' debut CD, "Come A way With Me," was released nearly two years ago, it floated into record stores with little fanfare and no hype. Two years, eight Grammys and eight million albums later, the recent release of Jones' follow-up, "Feels Like Home," has become an event. Her cherub face has adorned countless articles in major publications, VH1 made the disc available for listening on the Internet a week ago, and major ads are trumpeting the record. All to Jones' dismay.

Anoushka Shankar's new Angel album, Live at Carnegie Hall, is a brilliant recording of her opening set for her father Ravi Shankar, sold out Carnegie Hall, Grammy Award winning performance. She also recorded a song with Sting last year for his album, Sacred Love.