The Alchemy festival specialises in unexpected collaborations, and Anoushka Shankar's debut was notable for the surprises. There were free concerts in the foyer from the Kerala vocal group Asima, while inside the hall, the first performers were the powerful Rajasthan musicians and dancers of the Rehmat Khan Langa Troupe. Appropriately, they included an inspired exponent of the castanet-like khertal, for Shankar would be exploring the links between Indian music and flamenco.

This was her first London appearance since the death of her father Ravi Shankar, and she began with a raga that he taught her when she was still a teenager. It began slowly, and gradually developed into a lively piece that provided an instant reminder of her remarkable skill. Then came her own compositions, mixing passages of virtuoso playing with Indian-Spanish fusion work that ranged from the passionate to the easygoing.

Most of the set was devoted to material from her latest album, Traveller. She started with a drifting atmospheric mood piece featuring the oboe-like shenai, but then brought on two flamenco performers, the singer Sandra Carrasco and guitarist El Melón. The best songs featured intense interplay between sitar and guitar, either playing together or echoing phrases, while on Dancing in Madness the sitar was matched against the Latin cajón box drum. It was a slick, classy show that was helped by an adventurous finale, in which the Rajasthan dancers joined the band for a furious, percussive treatment of one of Ravi Shankar's compositions. Impressive, but never as thrilling as the extraordinary performances with her father earlier in her career.

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