India at the Grammys 2024: Shakti, Zakir Hussain and Rakesh Chaurasia, Falu and Gaurav Shah Nominated
Indian-origin jazz pianist Vijay Iyer too earns a nomination for his collaboration with Pakistan’s Arooj Aftab and Shahzad Ismaily
(Clockwise from top left) Falu, Zakir Hussain, Rakesh Chaurasia and Shakti are among the Indian and Indian-origin artists nominated at the 66th Grammy Awards in 2024.
India’s classical music stalwarts make their presence felt at the 66th Recording Academy Awards.
Fusion veterans Shakti are nominated for Best Global Music Album, while the group’s tabla legend Zakir Hussain earns separate nominations with veteran flautist Rakesh Chaurasia for their collaboration with banjo great Béla Fleck and bassist Edgar Meyer for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, Best Global Music Performance and Best Instrumental Composition.
Indian-origin artists Falu and Gaurav Shah, whose song “Abundance in Millets” (featuring a speech from Prime Minister Narendra Modi) also picked up a nomination for Best Global Music Performance category at the Grammys 2024.
Shakti, for their part, are nominated for their album This Moment — their first in over 45 years. Hussain and Chaurasia collaborated with Meyer and Fleck on the 2023 album As We Speak, whose songs “Pashto” and “Motion” also earned nominations. In total, that’s three nods for Hussain and Chaurasia.
Indian-origin pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, who collaborated with Pakistani-origin artist Arooj Aftab and New York-based artist Shahzad Ismaily on the 2023 album Love in Exile also earns a nod for Best Alternative Jazz Album and Best Global Music Performance. Elsewhere, jazz-fusion act House of Waters’ album On Becoming — which features Indian vocalist-composer Priya Darshini on the song “The Wall” — is nominated for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.
At the Grammys 2023 earlier this year, the likes of Anoushka Shankar, Berklee Indian Ensemble, Ricky Kej and Arooj Aftab were nominated. Kej went on to win Best Immersive Audio Album with The Police’s Stewart Copeland for their collaboration Divine Tides.
Check out the full list of nominees at the 66th Recording Academy Awards/Grammys.
