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Musicians Ravi (left) and Anoushka Shankar perform at Royce Hall Thursday night.

“And I hope you haven’t forgotten me,” said the beaming Ravi Shankar after introducing his accompanying musicians on stage. And, of course, the audience hadn’t.

Playing at Royce Hall Thursday night to a multiethnic crowd of elderly folk, hippies, college students and children, Shankar’s music proved its lasting power, unlike the acid trips that his audiences wrongly latched onto his art decades before.

Though Shankar was clearly the night’s biggest attraction, the audience also reacted passionately to the impressive opening performance of Anoushka Shankar, Ravi’s daughter and student who, at the tender age of 21, has too thorough a knowledge of her instrument to be labeled simply as “promising.” And though her playing style provides less of the effortless grace than her father, Anoushka’s mastery of the instrument is a clear reflection of her natural talents and her father’s wise teachings.

Anoushka opened the night with the accompaniment of two tabla players and two tambura players. Both of the tabla players used their pitch-perfect hand drums to provide more than just a backbeat. Weaving a sonic tapestry with their instruments, they dazzled the audience with blazingly fast beats, changing their rhythms effortlessly, occasionally stealing the show as Anoushka provided the background accompaniment.

But the highest points of the set came when Anoushka took charge herself, displaying her technical skill to bring to life the colorful compositions, and when she ended her set with a rousing finale that saw her pound her sitar with power and grace.

Shankar, who entered the stage to a standing ovation, played with less raw power in his fingers, but whatever he lost in pure strength he made up for in creativity and spontaneity. Onstage with the two tabla players, two tambura players and Anoushka, Shankar commanded the set. His backing musicians remained locked on Shankar’s moves, which were more improvised than Anoushka’s structured performance. This was Shankar’s music at its most impressive and in its purest form. Without the use of sheet music to dictate the flow of the music, he played with melodic ideas, introducing new patterns to create a reflective, leisurely paced set that still flowed with emotion.

Shankar only played two pieces, and though both were alive with different moods and colors, they still maintained the same harmonics with the help of the two tambura players who plucked the same open chord throughout the entire set. Shankar’s ability to play so creatively with this backbone displayed his imaginative prowess as well as his dedication to the set’s structure and cohesiveness.

All the while Anoushka sat beside her father, eyes locked on his playing, providing background accompaniment to his sitar. Together, they ended the set with interweaving melodic lines, the ever resourceful Shankar using the opportunity to play with blinding speed and agility. He couldn’t have played with such high intensity throughout the entire set, but the energetic close revealed a rousing playfulness from all musicians on stage, leaving the audience stunned and longing for more.

Shankar has said before that one lifetime is not enough to master the sitar, but he certainly knew enough to floor the Royce Hall audience, treating his fans to a wonderful combination of both creativity and virtuosity.

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