Ananda Shankar (11 December 1942 – 26 March 1999) was a Bengali musician, singer and composer best known for fusing Western and Eastern musical styles. He was married to dancer and choreographer Tanusree Shankar.

 

Born in Almora in Uttar Pradesh, India, Shankar was the son of Amala Shankar and Uday Shankar, popular dancers, and also the nephew of sitar player Ravi Shankar. He studied in The Scindia School, Gwalior. Ananda did not learn sitar from his uncle but studied instead with Lalmani Misra at Banaras Hindu University.

 

Born into Indian royalty, a composer and choreographer who became a pioneering force behind the fusion of East and West.  His active years of production were from the 1970s to the 90s. His music fused pop, rock, electronic and jazz genres. His styles included instrumental rock, acid jazz, world fusion, psychedelic and garage. 

 

Ananda Shankar, nephew of world-famous sitar player, Ravi Shankar, made a significant impact in the '70s psychedelic underground scene by combining Western electronics and Indian music to create instrumental jams and moody soundtracks.

 

The son of famous classical dancers caught the show-biz bug in the late '60s and travelled to Los Angeles, where he played with rock musicians (including Jimi Hendrix) at the pinnacle of the psychedelic movement. At age 27, he signed a deal with Reprise Records who released his debut self-titled album; a fusion cult classic that combined Hindustani music with psych-rock and included sitar-heavy versions of "Jumping Jack Flash" and "Light My Fire." 

 

Shankar returned to India and began constructing 1975's Ananda Shankar and His Music, a blend of furious funk beats, keyboards, and traditional Indian instruments. From 1978 to 1981, he recorded five conceptual records: India Remembers Elvis (Indian versions of Elvis standards), A Musical Discovery of India (an endeavour financed by the Indian tourist board), Missing You (a dedication to his parents), the space-themed 2001, and the jungle safari-tinged Sá-Re-Gá Machán. 

 

In the mid-'90s, a new generation of DJs and musicians found an abundance of samples in his discography, and when Blue Note released the 1996 compilation album Blue Juice, Vol. 1 which featured two of his dance tracks, "Streets of Calcutta" and "Dancing Drums," a reawakened interest in his music led to a tour-slot in Peter Gabriel's Womad festival and another alongside Asian turntablist DJ State of Bengal. 

 

In the late 1990s, Shankar worked and toured in the United Kingdom with the London DJ State of Bengal and others, a collaboration that resulted in the Walking On album, featuring Shankar's trademark sitar soundscapes mixed with breakbeat and hip hop. 

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The Peter Gabriel collaboration resulted in 2000s Walking On, featuring Shankar's sitar virtuosity mixed with bachelor pad break beats and trip-hop. Walking On was released in 2000 after Shankar passed away the previous year.

 

In 2005, his song "Raghupati" was used on the Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories soundtrack, and in 2008 his song "Dancing Drums" was used on the LittleBigPlanet soundtrack. His music was also used on the television show Byomkesh Bakshi, broadcast on Doordarshan, India's free-to-air public broadcast channel. In 2010 and 2011, his music appeared in the following episodes of the NBC comedy show Outsourced.  Shankar never saw the release of the album, due to a sudden heart attack at age 56. He passed away in Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal India. 

 

In 2007, Fallout Records reissued Ananda Shankar and His Music, with Sá-Re-Gá Machán with India Remembers Elvis tacked on as bonus tracks.