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	RAVI AND ANOUSHKA SHANKAR Sitars in Symphony Hall

At 85, Ravi Shankar is much more than a virtuoso. As he wrung the first few exquisitely bent notes of an evening raga from his sitar a week ago Sunday, Symphony Hall resounded with the full sounds of a master musician. The Hall embraced and held each note, like it had been built to contain them. Shankar himself spoke of the grandeur of the building — "One of the best," he said — but then went on to warn the audience that this may be his last visit. Not because of age: Shankar retired several years ago. He just forgot to stop touring. The problem is that the house will no longer permit the burning of incense. And incense is an integral part of the prep for a Shankar performance.

But the spectral, mythic Shankar didn’t materialize until after the intermission. It was "Ravi Shankar’s Festival of India, featuring Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar" (his daughter) — a double bill, with Anoushka playing the first set. She’s 24, and bears a striking resemblance to her father and her half-sister Norah Jones. Unfortunately the resemblance to Norah is more than skin-deep. Anoushka’s new album, Rise (Angel), is to Indian classical as Norah Jones is to classic jazz. This may be good for Angel, and for anyone programming music for an Ibiza brunch. It’s an energy-shake smooth mélange of electronica, Indian classical lite, and sundry "world music" clichés that mistakes the cosmopolitanism of the international traveler for cultural exchange. Not that Anoushka lacks chops; her sitar playing was impressive, both in duet with her father and leading her own group of young musicians. But her music is perhaps too representative of what must be her real world: she has lived in London, Mumbai, and California, and been on the road with her father since her early teens, likely passing through an endless series of hotel lobbies, airline lounges, day spas, and charming restaurants. She makes music that could play in them all. But not Symphony Hall.