Anoushka

It's hard to imagine this record's release if Anoushka were not the sitar-playing daughter of superstar Ravi Shankar. The package emphasizes Anoushka's moneyed glamour, with everything from her instrument (one of Dad's) to the material--five relatively short ragas written by her guru father--a testament to her gene pool. Anoushka's not a horrible sitar player by any stretch; she's simply nowhere near as proficient, subtle, or exploratory as most of the younger generation of classical sitarists currently recording. Tabla virtuosos Bikram Ghosh and Arup Chattopadhyay keep things moving, and the album's most honest moments arrive during Shankar's steadfast accompaniment of their solos. Nevertheless, a world of promise lies in these tracks. Richard Gehr