ANOUSHKA Shankar is, according to her fans online, the sexiest thing to hit Indian classical music.

Just look at her lithe figure, generous smile and mop of gorgeous, unruly curls.

When told that she sexes up the sitar like Vanessa Mae has done the violin, the 27-year-old burst into laughter.

'I do find that funny.

'Since I am younger than many of the classical artistes, I can see that (term) coming,' she told The New Paper last Friday on the telephone from Paris, before a concert there.

Anoushka, who is three weeks into a world tour, will perform at the Esplanade Concert Hall here on 28 Jun.

She is the progeny and protege of the 88-year-old sitar maestro, Pandit Ravi Shankar, who is credited with putting sitar music on the world music map.

HALF-SISTER

Her half-sister is musician and singer Norah Jones, 29, whose mother, former music producer and nurse Sue Jones, had a nine-year relationship with Ravi Shankar.

Anoushka picked up the sitar at the age of 7 with the encouragement of her mother, Sukanya Shankar, and started touring with her father at 13.

At 15, she was the conductor on her father's album, Chants Of India, which was produced by their close family friend, the late Beatle George Harrison.

Anoushka's 1998 solo debut album established her as a worthy successor to Ravi Shankar's musical throne.

Since then, she has produced five albums.

Her second album in 2000, Anourag, picked up a Grammy nomination in the World Music Category - the same year Norah swept up five Grammy awards for her debut, Come Away With Me.

In 2002, at a tribute concert for Harrison, she conducted a new composition based on her father's work, Arpan, which featured a guitar solo by Eric Clapton.

In the same year she released an intimate biography of her father called Bapi: The Love of My Life.

Anoushka took a small break from her sitar to give acting a try in a 2004 movie, Dance Like A Man, where she earned a best supporting actress nomination at India's National Film Awards.

Time Magazine's Asian edition chose her as one of 20 Asian Heroes that same year, sealing her status as the rising queen of the sitar.

Ravi Shankar told Time Magazine in 2002 that Anoushka's reputation will someday eclipse his.

'Anoushka has so much more than I had. She not only knows what I knew, what I taught her, but she's more acquainted with today, so she's richer. That's what happens.'

As John Lennon's and Bob Marley's offsprings will tell you, it is not easy being the child of a legend.

Especially one that is expected to take over the mantle of her father and be, as another revered Indian musician Amjad Ali Khan put it, 'the future of Indian classical music'.

Anoushka seemed to handle the weight of being the next in line to a legendary musical throne with an almost Zen-like quality.

She said: 'I have a pretty grounded family... though my father is a musician and a legendary one at that.'

FATHER'S DAUGHTER

She also doesn't mind that she is constantly referred to in the media as her father's daughter.

'I am used to it. My father is my teacher. I play his style of music,' she said.

But comparisons with her half-sister are a different story.

The siblings met for the first time when she was 16 and Norah was 18, after Ravi Shankar re-established contact with his older daughter.

When both of them were up for the Grammys in 2000 and their family links became public, Anoushka admitted she found the comparisons to Norah hard to handle.

'When (her fame) exploded in the beginning, I found it a little overwhelming,' she said.

'But I can't compare myself with her as I am not in the mainstream.'

TIGHT BOND

Nevertheless, she and Norah have a very tight bond.

'Both of us were raised as only children in our families. We had a half-brother from my father's previous marriage, who passed away some time back.

'We only have each other,' she said.

Both of them sport a similar stylised lotus tattoo on their lower backs, a design created by Anoushka.

They also collaborated on a track on Anoushka's most recent album, Breathing Underwater, that was co-produced with musician Karsh Kale.

The song called Easy featured Norah's vocals and Anoushka on sitar.

'It was an idea I had for a few years and I realised that my sister and I could collaborate on that.

'We recorded it in one afternoon,' she said.

Besides Norah and their father, Sting and Bollywood composer Salim Merchant also contributed to the album, which combined elements of traditional Indian classical music with more Western sounds of pop and jazz.

It is clear that Anoushka is finding her own voice as a musician, experimenting with various musical genres while staying true to her Indian roots.

And like many musicians, she doesn't like the term 'world music'.

It is a dumping ground for music like hers that defies specific labels like pop or rock.

'It is a very Western-centric term. Until they come up with a better term, most of the music we do will be known as 'world music',' she said.

The above article was first published in The New Paper on May 26, 2008.