“My mother is half Malayali and half Tamilian. I can speak Bengali and Tamil, but can't read or write.”

British-American sitar player and musician, born 1981

Anoushka Shankar is a British-American sitar player and musician, with work as an occasional writer and actress. Born in 1981, she has built a career that spans classical and contemporary music, and both acoustic and electronic settings. She began releasing solo studio albums with Anoushka in 1998 and has since issued seven in all. She has also collaborated with a range of musicians, including Karsh Kale on Breathing Under Water in 2007 and her father, Ravi Shankar. Her career has brought her 14 Grammy Award nominations, and she was the first musician of Indian origin to perform live at the ceremony and to serve as a presenter there.