India at Grammys 2024: Shakti, Ut Zakir Hussain, Rakesh Chaurasia, Vijay Iyer, Falu and PM Narendra Modi find nominations

Falu, who one a Grammy last year in the category of Best Children’s album, had created a children’s album that dealt with the idea of her being a brown musician in an America that’s still attempting to understand racial equity, and explaining the same to children from diverse cultures through her music.

Abundance in Millets will compete with Pashto, an instrumental conversation between banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, cellist Edgar Meyer, ace percussionist Ustad Zakir Hussain and featuring Mumbai-based flautist Rakesh Chaurasia from the album As We Speak has also found a nomination.

India’s third nomination has also come in the same category, where Shadow Forces – an Indo-Pak collaboration between Brooklyn-based Pakistani musician Arooj Aftab, Indian-origin ace jazz pianist Vijay Iyer and one of the music world’s most famed collaborators, Shahzad Ismaily, who was born in the US to Pakistani immigrant parents. In the song, the three interpret Pakistani singer’s famed Punjabi composition, Haayo rabba naiyyo lagda dil mera. Shadow Forces is a part of the album Love in Exile (Verve Records), which is also nominated in the category of Best Alternative Jazz Album. In 2022, Aftab became the first ever woman Pakistani Grammy winner after winning the award for Hafeez Hoshiyarpuri’s ghazal Mohobbat.

Hussain has also found a nomination as part of the delightful world music band Shakti in the Best Global Music Album category. The band features Hussain, Englisha guitarist John Mclaughlin, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, kanjira player Selvaganesh Vinayakram and vocalist Shankar Mahadevan.

Another nomination came for Indian-origin Priya Darshini who is featured in the album On Becoming, by jazz-fusion act House of Waters and is nominated in the category for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album. Born in Chennai into a Tamil-speaking Brahmin family and raised in Mumbai, Priya Darshini’s debut album titled Periphery which looked at the concept of complex identities was nominated in the Best New Age Album category at the 63rd Grammy Awards.