Rhythms of Nature
ARTIST AND MUSIC COMPOSER GINGGER SHANKAR’S LATEST SINGLE COMBINES SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC WITH INUIT THROAT SINGING
FOR ‘EVER SO LONELY/ EYES/ OCEAN’, SHANKAR HAS COLLABORATED WITH CHARLOTTE QAMANIQ
Gingger Shankar—the greatgrandniece of the late Grammy award-winning Indian sitar virtuoso Pandit Ravi Shankar–is a firm believer in artist collaborations. No wonder, her latest single ‘Ever So Lonely/ Eyes/ Ocean’ with Inuit throat singer Charlotte Qamaniq—a reimagining of former English pop singer Sheila Chandra’s iconic hit of the same name—amalgamates their individual vocal traditions. “I have always loved that song and decided to make it an ode to mother nature. Charlotte and I both picked various sounds from nature to create this song. We decided to do it a cappella so every single sound you hear is one of our voices,” says Shankar. “We wanted to show what the range and power of women’s voices can sound like. e song covers four and a half octaves. It’s quite special because it’s the first time throat singing and south Indian music have been recorded together,” she adds. e single that was released through Naughty Horses Records on Earth Day (April 22) took a month to complete. Shankar, who is known for her compositions in films like e Passion of the Christ, Charlie Wilson’s War and And She Could Be Next, is excited to share this new song through performances and a music video. “e video will be out in May and I am working on an a cappella album—with this being the first single. I also recently launched the Little Indian Girl Collective at SXSW film festival in Austin with Tara Houska and Rosario Dawson,” she adds. “e collective tells stories of women who embody revolution through art.”