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Anoushka, Jethro Tull start tour

New Delhi: Sitarist Anoushka Shankar and Jethro Tull front man Ian Anderson will begin their five-city tour of India with a performance in Kolkata on Thursday.

This will be followed by concerts in Mumbai (November 29), Delhi (November 30), Bangalore (December 2) and Hyderabad (December 3). They will also perform in Dubai on December 4.

The concerts will feature solo performances by each of them and a joint performance featuring each of their own compositions and new music written specifically for the tour.

There will be pieces from Anoushka’s solo albums as well as those that blend sitar in more acoustic-oriented Jethro Tull songs.

Anoushka Shankar said she was excited over the prospect of sharing the stage with Anderson. “Ian Anderson is a wonderful man and incredible musician, and I look forward to working with him in these concerts,” Anoushka said.

“I know he has so many avid fans around India who are looking forward to his return, and I hope they also appreciate the cross-cultural ties we plan to refer through the course of the music we play together.”

Widely recognised as the man who introduced the flute to rock music, Anderson remains the crowned exponent of the popular and rock genres of flute playing.

He plays ethnic flutes and whistles together with acoustic guitar and the mandolin family of instruments, providing the acoustic textures which are an integral part of most of the Jethro Tull repertoire.

Anderson formed Jethro Tull in 1968. It went on to become one of the most successful and enduring bands in British rock history, with several landmark albums. — PTI

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