Sitarist Anoushka Shankar will lead her ensemble on Friday at GWU’s Lisner Auditorium. Photo by Yuval Hen, courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon.

The music world lost one of its treasures last December with the passing of Ravi Shankar. A brilliant sitarist, he played a key role in introducing western audiences to Indian classical music, first through his relationship with The Beatles’ George Harrison and later with memorable performances at the Monterey Pop Festival and Woodstock. Fortunately, he leaves us with a rich catalog of recorded material and his legacy also continues through his gifted daughter, Anoushka Shankar.

With the title track and other compositions like “Fathers”, the elder Shankar’s spirit permeates throughout Anoushka’s recent release, Traces of You. While her Grammy-nominated recording, Traveller (2011), focused on a theme of blending the Indian classical and Spanish flamenco traditions, Traces of You took on a more spiritual and contemplative tone. But this is not an album of mourning, for she also has occasion to celebrate marriage and motherhood.

“Eventually what I kind of realized is that I was gravitating towards a more kind of emotional theme and story than one that was more technical or cultural,” said Shankar, who will be performing on Friday at the Lisner Auditorium. “I realized that what I was trying to do was create an album that was very emotional and that was about an emotional journey through human experiences.”

Shankar drew from a broad palette in order to maintain this sentiment throughout the recording. She teamed up with British producer Nitin Sawhney, an experienced composer/multi-instrumentalist who is well-versed in a number of different musical styles. The two had worked together on the occasional track or live show, but had also developed a close friendship outside of music, especially since Shankar relocated to London. Many of the songs began with the two collaborators jamming, with Shankar’s sitar providing the root melody and Sawhney developing the harmonic structure on guitar or piano. These sessions would establish the core of the song, and then they would choose the appropriate instrumentation to enhance and color the feeling behind it.

“He said that when he heard me or watched me playing, there was no doubt that I was a good instrumentalist, but he wasn’t necessarily as sure of who I was,” Shankar said. “He allowed me to be a bit more vulnerable about whatever the emotion was. I know emotion is vague word, but there was a way in which I tried to let it be on the record rather than tidy it up.”

Shankar, who often collaborates with vocalists, also decided to have a unifying voice to bring together the different strands of the record. She tapped her half-sister, Norah Jones, to sing on three tracks. Ayanna Witter-Johnsonon will handle vocal duties at tomorrow night’s show, while also doubling on cello and keyboards. Danny Keane will also be playing strings and keys, while Bjork’s percussionist, Manu Delago, will be on drumset and the hang drum, a relatively new instrument that is similar in timbre to a steel pan. The remainder of the sextet is comprised of Indian musicians, including Shankar, South Indian percussionist Pirashanna Thevarajah and Sanjeev Shankar on the shehnai.

“It’s a really lovely band. I’m genuinely excited to be presenting this music with them,” Shankar said of the upcoming performance. “I’m very conscious of people taking the time to buy a ticket and come out to a concert, especially in this economy. But I hope we move people. I hope they find things that are beautiful.”

The Washington Performing Arts Society presents Anoushka Shankar on Friday, November 15, 2013 at the Lisner Auditorium. 8 p.m. Tickets $20-$40.