Traveller

Anoushka Shankar's debut album for Deutsche Grammophon, best known for its heavyweight Western classical music, shows a terrific assurance which suggests she has finally stepped out of the shadow of her revered father, fellow sitarist Ravi (not to mention her famous stepsister Nora Jones).

The fusion highway is littered with numerous car-crashes, but this collision of flamenco and Indian classical music is confidently executed with flair, helped by superior production by Javier Limón. Unlike some fusions, there is a convincing cultural logic behind it – we know Rajasthani Gypsies still use castanets, and the Gypsy diaspora to Andalucía was one of the main roots of flamenco. As Shankar puts it, she sees flamenco as the “little brother” of Indian music.

The most thrilling passages are where Shankar duets with pianist Pedro Ricardo Mino or with Limón's guitar where the whole project takes off in delirious improvisation. A more romantic duet ‘Boy Meets Girl’ features a playful, teasing duet with flamenco guitarist Pepe Habichuela. The album is packed with new tunes, most penned by Shankar and Limón, some of them positively devious in their catchiness. They're aided by top-notch guest vocalists like Shubha Mugdal, Sanjeev Chimmalgi, Duquende and Sandra Carrasco – all exceptional voices passionately representing India and Spain, as though at some new Olympic sport.

Some of the most Indo-centric of the material, like ‘Krishna’, seems a little conservative in comparison to the rest, but it's a reflection of the artistry involved that the both ends of the spectrum work so well, and that you can only very occasionally see the joins. A rare album that opens up all kinds of musical possibilities.