Customer Reviews

In New York

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ravi Shankar
with Alla Rakha

"In New York"

- Raga Bairagi
- Nata Bhairavi
- Raga Marwa

(Angel - ADD - 1968 - remastered)

Ravi had been playing and teaching the basics of Indian music to all who would listen to him in the U.S. (and in the rest of the western world as well) for many years prior to this concert. This concert in itself is more in the way of a teaching exercise than a strict playing of the music of India. This is a good concert but not his best, yet it is still very enjoyable.
Four Stars.

This CD opens with a five minute rendition of Bhairagi. The recording was released in 1968 and a five minute performance was the best way to hold the attention span of the western audience. It is a nice, brief introductory performance for those unfamiliar with the style. It is well played but not mesmerizing.

Bhairavi is next. He keeps the alap to about a minute (once again with a new audience in mind.) Bhairavi is a raga of Karnatic (south Indian) origin. Shankar frequently borrowed from the South Indian system. His claim in the liner notes that Indian music is free of outside influence is incredibly false. Arab & Persian music brought by invaders to India helped shape the music of the north, while it is the southern style that is more unchanged. Anyway, this is an electrifying performance, but a little too bombastic for my taste (I've always preferred the style of Vilayat Khan or Nikhil Banerjee.)

The CD closes with "Marwa" a favorite of the Maihar gharana (Shankar's musical lineage.) Marwa is the only recording of the three to feature a significantly long alap. I'm not overly enthralled by the "machine gun" style of much of Shankar's work. He certainly opened the doors for Indian music I enjoy today, but it still doesn't appeal to me as much as some of the other players I listed above. It is good, but not his best work.

at heart, i am a hip hop junkie...particularly obsessed with Madlib's various musical creations, old jedi mind tricks (well, mainly their first album), and Buck 65....but, this album just literally blew me away...his inventive unorthodox style of instrumental playing is incredible...this album in particular is almost hypnotizing...he improvises, flowing in and out like one large orchestra....every song seems to follow a similar musical formula....at first starting off slowly, eventually reaching a crescendo of violent rhythmic explosion ....but he is still graceful as the ocean after a thunderstorm...wow, this album inspired me to go out and buy more experimental ventures such as West Meets East and Passages...which are in my opinion on a whole other level of experimental music...Shankar is a genius of instrumentalism and musical composition....even though he is a mainstream celebrity, his music still stands as genius..and these 3 ragas, though very traditional and at times monotonous, and amazing....pick up this and West Meets East, and you are set....and if you want to venture even further, pick up Passages too....more western classical oriented, but still an amazing album....oh, and don't forget to peep Madlib's "Shades of Blue", and the upcoming MF Doom/Madlib project (not really diggin' the Jaylib album too much--great beats though--)...........