Anoushka Shankar shares the third and final part of the trilogy of mini-albums she began with ‘Chapter I: Forever, For Now’ in October 2023, and followed by the GRAMMY-nominated ‘Chapter II: How Dark it Is Before Dawn’ in April 2024. ‘Chapter III: We Return To Light’ is out now on vinyl and via all digital platforms, supported initially by an extensive tour of North America in March 2025.
‘Three chapters, three geographies,’ Shankar scribbled in a diary at a café in Goa on New Year’s Day two years ago, manifesting an ambitious trilogy that she hoped would span multiple geographies with nods to her roots, across continents and collaborators. Looking back now, it’s safe to say that the 11-time GRAMMY Award nominee has outdone herself. Chapter I was recorded in Berlin acknowledging Shankar’s European heritage (she was born and lives in London), while Chapter II was captured in California, where she moved aged 11 and lived for over 15 years. Central to Chapter III is the mindfulness of India at the root of all her music.
Shankar has held steadfast in her desire to work with a different producer on each mini-album. Here, that responsibility falls to London-based, Indian multi-instrumentalist Sarathy Korwar, one of the most original and compelling voices in the British jazz scene. Shankar also decided that Korwar would help to ground the release and round out the symbolism around working with the album’s third key collaborator, composer and sarod player Alam Khan, son of the famed Indian classical guru, Ali Akbar Khan.
