Anoushka Shankar - Rise (2005)

There are prodigies and there is progeny. Anoushka Shankar is both. As the daughter of sitar legend Ravi Shankar, she's got bloodlines and a teacher who is one of the greatest to ever play sitar. While Anoushka has pretty good classical chops (not the best, but pretty good), Rise shows her versatility and growth as a composer, arranger, and producer. The nine-song album features her sitar along with a variety of traditional Indian and modern Western instruments. She orders the ragas logically, starting with morning and working toward the final one at the end of the night, each one capturing the mood of its particular time of day. For example, mellow opener "Prayer in Passing" would be the initial waking moments, while the mood soon gets more upbeat on "Red Sun" before the midday heat sets in for the middle tracks and brings down the tempo. Traditionalists will call it pop, but there is nothing light or disposable about Rise. --Tad Hendrickson