Sitarist Anoushka Shankar and ‘Amy’ director Asif Kapadia are among the Indian origin names featuring in the nominees list at the 58th Grammy awards, which were announced here today.
Shankar, 34, has been nominated in the Best World Music Album category for her solo album ‘Home’, which is a pure Indian classical album showcasing the meditative and virtuosic qualities of the Indian raga.
‘Home’ features two ragas, one of which is a creation of her late father Ravi Shankar. This is her fifth nomination in the same category.
Indo-British director Asif Kapadia features in the nominees list of Best Music Film category for ‘Amy’, his documentary on late singer Amy Winehouse.
Indian origin musician Jeff Bhasker features in the top category –Record of the Year — for Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk’. His other nomination is in the Producer of the Year, Non-Classical category.
‘The Afro Latin Jazz Suite’ in the Best Instrumental Composition category has garnered a nod to Indian origin Rudresh Mahanthappa. He and fellow artistes will be competing with another Indian origin talent — composer David Balkrishnan (Confetti Man) in the same section.
In the key categories, Kendrick Lamar, Taylor Swift and the Weeknd have earned top nominations including Album of the Year, Song of the Year and Record of the Year.
Lamar is nominated 11 times in nine categories while the Weeknd is up for seven Grammys so is popstar Swift. Drake is up for five nods, Alabama Shakes and Florence and the Machine have four nominations. Kanye West, D’Angelo, and Diplo are up for three nods each.
Record of the Year nominees are D’Angelo’s ‘Really Love’, Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’ ‘Uptown Funk’, Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud’, Taylor Swift’s ‘Blank Space’, and the Weeknd’s ‘Can’t Feel My Face’.
Album of the Year nominees are Alabama Shakes’ ‘Sound & Color’, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’, ‘Traveller’ Chris Stapleton; ‘1989’ by Taylor Swift; ‘Beauty Behind the Madness’ by The Weeknd.
Song of the year (songwriter’s award) nominations include ‘Alright’ ; ‘Blank Space’, ‘Girl Crush’, ‘See You Again’ and ‘Thinking Out Loud’
Best new artist nominees are Courtney Barnett, James Bay, Sam Hunt, Tori Kelly, Meghan Trainor.
In the best pop vocal album ‘Piece by Piece’ by Kelly Clarkson, ‘How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful’ by Florence + The Machine, ‘Uptown Special’ by Mark Ronson, ‘1989’ by Taylor Swift and ‘Before This World’ by James Taylor have bagged nominations.
Clarkson for ‘Heartbeat Song’, Ellie Goulding for ‘Love Me Like You Do’, Ed Sheeran for ‘Thinking Out Loud’, Swift for ‘Blank Space’ and The Weeknd for ‘Can’t Feel My Face’ have landed nods in the best pop solo performance section.
Alabama Shakes, Bjork, My Morning Jacket, Tame Impala, and Wilco are up for best alternative album Grammy.
The best pop duo/group performance category nominations features ‘Ship to Wreck’ by Florence + The Machine, ‘Sugar’ by Maroon 5, ‘Uptown Funk’ by Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars, ‘Bad Blood’ by Swift, ‘See You Again’ by Wiz Khalifa featuring Charlie Puth.
‘Chaos and the Calm’ by James Bay, ‘Kintsugi’ by Death Cab for Cutie, ‘Mister Asylum’ by Highly Suspect, ‘Drones’ by Muse, ‘.5: The Gray Chapter’ by Slipknot are part of the best rock album.
Best rap album category nominees are ‘2014 Forest Hills Drive’ by J Cole, ‘Compton’ by Dr Dre, ‘If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late’ by Drake, ‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ by Kendrick Lamar and ‘The Pinkprint’ by Nicki Minaj.
‘Montevallo’ by Sam Hunt, ‘Pain Killer’ by Little Big Town, ‘The Blade’ by Ashley Monroe, ‘Pageant Material’ by Kacey Musgraves and ‘Traveller’ by Chris Stapleton feature in the best country album list.
The 58th Annual Grammy Awards will take place on February 15 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
PTI