The beautiful song “The Sun Won’t Set” has come back to me from time-to-time during both happy and challenging moments. Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones are half-sisters, having in common their father, the legendary sitarist Ravi Shankar. Shankar died at the age of 92 during the making of the album that comprise these songs. The album, Traces of You, is up for the Grammy Award in the Best World Music Album category. Traces of You is a song cycle that reprises the cycle of life. Jones collaborates with Shankar on three songs, providing an occasional narrative voice between ten emotive instrumental songs. Given that it was given birth during a very difficult and painful time in the life of Ms. Shankar, Traces of You, as with most artistic work, moves into the category of being a merely good to a great album, reflecting the turmoil, pain, love, and hope that she apparently experienced at the time–transcending pedestrian concerns into ones that are insightful and empathic.
Rolling Stone has an interesting interview with Jones regarding the album and the experience of performing with her sister. Sadly, there are no video recordings of “The Sun Won’t Set.” The audio recording, however, is all you need. “Traces of You”, which follows, shows the comfortable interplay between Shankar and Jones.
Life, Project Management, and Everything 