Thirty years after she first performed at Netaji Indoor Stadium as a teenager, Anoushka Shankar returned to Kolkata to the same venue on Sunday evening, turning the concert into an emotional homecoming.
The 13-time Grammy-nominated musician marked three decades of live performance with a set drawn from her Chapters trilogy, a body of work shaped by grief, healing and renewal.
Speaking to the audience, Shankar reflected on her first Kolkata performance at the same venue when she was 14, performing alongside her father Ravi Shankar and Ustad Zakir Hussain.
“It feels like such a special night for me to be back, not just in Kolkata, but also here in this venue where I did my first ever performance in Kolkata,” she said, recalling the moment from 30 years ago.
Introducing the music from her Chapters trilogy, she explained how the albums “travel through times of day from afternoon into the night and into the morning,” mirroring an emotional journey of moving “through difficulties and hard times into a space of healing and finally into the light of a new day.”
As she moved into Offering, the opening piece of the evening, Shankar described how she had altered the sound of the sitar so that “every note I play you just hear the echo,” allowing her to create a more ambient, atmospheric texture.
The effect was immediate. The echo-driven sitar held the stadium in rapt silence, with many in the audience sitting still, eyes closed, absorbing the immersive calm that washed over the space.
The night took an electrifying turn when percussionist Bickram Ghosh joined Shankar on stage, adding a pulse that gently shifted the mood from introspection to celebration.
Moments later, Arijit Singh walked in to a roar that rippled through the packed arena. His surprise collaboration with Shankar brought a surge of emotional intensity, blending his voice with the meditative textures of the sitar.
“I can’t believe this is happening,” said 36-year-old Soumik Nasker. “We were not expecting this. The moment felt magical,” said Ananya Ghosh Dastidar.
Arijit Singh’s surprise appearance was especially poignant as it marked his first live performance since announcing his retirement from playback singing on January 27.
“I am very nervous. Thank you for having me,” he told the crowd before joining Anoushka Shankar and Bickram Ghosh to sing Maya Bhora Raati to thunderous applause.
