Land of Gold

Land of Gold - Anoushka Shankar

by Benedict Croft

After a few years of Shankar re-exploring the roots of her music, Land of Gold signalled the return of the electronic and dub-influenced sitarplaying that originally positioned her as a key innovator in the global fusion scene. Shankar’s release of the Home in 2015 was a showcase of her virtuoso ability and deep understanding of traditional Indian raag. This appears to have inspired Land of Gold, which exhibits her most impressive instrumentalism yet. ‘Crossing The Rubicon’ is able to combine pop-like sitar hooks with dynamic passages of intense improvisation contrasted with the warm tones of the hang played by Manu Delago. Later in the track, Shankar opens the floor to shehnai player Sanjeev Shankar who, backed with aggressive drum samples, constructs a haunting war cry that is still able produce a distinctively South Indian sound. The entirety of Land of Gold is deeply political with every track crying out against injustice, often simply through instrumentals and occasionally enhanced with spoken and sampled vocals such as in ‘Remain The Sea’ and ‘Dissolving Boundaries’ which feel almost cinematic and demand sincere reflection. Shankar is an artist at the height of her craft, able to integrate tradition, progression and politics in a way that feels entirely natural and necessary to her sound and, consequently, places her as a giant in her field. ◆