Customer Reviews

Who's to Know

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Shankar, after master minding the instrument, 'accoustic double violin', which offers the range of whole string orchestra, puts that to business with two classical ragas of South India, Hemavathi and Savithri. An album dedicated to his pal, John McLaughlin, features also the unBEATable brilliance of Zakir Hussain and Umayalpuram Sivaraman on percussion (Tabla and Mridangam respectively). A path breaking success for conceiving a ten stringed instrument to go beyond the constraints of the traditional violin, this album is an ample evidence of Shankar's impeccable improvisational quality and brillance. This simply augurs what more will come from this instrument and Shankar in the future. Worth buying for the sheer of joy of hearing the music!

L Shankar (not to be confused with Ravi Shankar) is a remarkable musician and "interpreter" of classic southern India music. This was the first real recording of Indian classical music that I heard (it came out on the ECM Jazz label which I love). It struck me then and still does, as music of fire and passion melded with a clarity of purpose. Something about the nature of "control combined with spirit" has been one of the essential characteristics of the appeal which Indian music has for me. I realize there is a large "improvizational" aspect to playing Ragas, but on this recording, hearing it over and over, one gets a very different sense of the music, perhaps not even an intended sense.

I've listened to a fair bit of Indian classical since I picked up this record, but this is still one of favorites (along with Shankar's other great record: Pancha Nadai Pallavi).

If you like other ECM records, you may well like this too. I can see what Manfred Eicher liked about this. Thanks Manfred, and thanks to Shankar for the creation.

Lakshminarayana Sankar, this is the young violinist who made his debut (to the western world) with John McLauglin's "Shakti" group in the mid-seventies. And also the one who stole the limelight (at the jazz poles) from Stephane Grappelli, the undisputed master of the jazz violin.

INDO-JAZZ FUSSION LOVERS HAVE TO GO ELSEWHERE. This is pure South Indian (Carnatic) classical affair at its best. The inclusion of tabla (Zakir Hussain) may be a departure here in the right Carnatic sense. But what an enjoyable departure that is!

The ragam-thanam-pallavi is the masterpiece and so is the sound of his double-neck instrument on both tracks. Given a decent audio system, adjectives like tear-inducing, hairs-on-end, etc., is bound to be overheard. Though a studio recording, Manfred Eicher has done full justice in capturing this acoustic music with the right concert hall ambience. I only wish that this concert lasted longer than it does. Alternately, Mr.Shankar should take more of such outings.

I chanced to hear this CD a few years ago, and I just have to say - this is a classic to behold. Nothing quite compares to it - it is rich, enveloping, intense, and powerful. I was already a fan of Shakti (L shankar dazzled crowds with his near-perfect control of his instrument), but this was the album that *really* introduced the double-violin to me; let's just say it would need someone at Shankar's level to make Ragam Thanam-Pallavi sound the way it does. And as for Rhythm, should one say anything at all ? To many , the name Umayalpuram Sivaraman may not be very familiar, but his Mridangam performances are legendary, and he is widely regarded as one of the greatest players ever. Zakir Hussain is stellar, blending seamlessly, almost effortlessly in a rather Carnatic setting... one wishes these performances would happen once, just once, LIVE, and it would lift you to the few untouched heights of indian classic music.
This isn't a CD you would have to think twice about.

No one has displayed so much improvisations in the ragas as much as Shankar, after buying this i got all of shankar's collections.. shankar plays magic with his double violin. If you are a new person to indian classical music, BINGO a great way to start listening to quality music. Zakir is amazing in the second ragam. Musical feast to the ears! SHANKAR'S BEST ALBUM

I don't know much about Indian Classical music, but I know what I like. I've never heard a better violinist than Shankar, who worked with jazz guitarist John McLaughlin in Shakti and even recorded a pop album produced by Frank Zappa. On this recording Shankar uses a new double violin, which apparently only he has and only he can play. The depth of emotional intensity and the nuance Shankar achieves on this recording is rare in any idiom. This isn't a musical language I know well, but I can tell that Shankar is its poet.

Of L. Shankar's numerous recordings, this is in my opinion his most thunderously poetic. The sonority of a double-necked, sympathetic violin blooming in the near cathedralesque acoustic of Oslo's Rainbow Studio alone is capable of illustrating ecstasy. But in the hands of Shankar we are witness to, in the first of two ragas, an exquisite spiritual emergency, which takes one way beyond to another layer of mind rarely evoked in a listening room. This electrifying minor-key masterpiece rides up the smoothest plane imaginable in 22+ minutes with uncountable variations as inventive and harmonically coherent as any you are likely to find, before engulfing the listener with a climax of such supreme urgency, your nervous system is never the same when it's over. And every new listen seems to yield more. The second, major-key rag, delivers more virtuosic wonderment concluding with one of the most amazing percussion duet (Hussain and Sivaraman) I've ever heard on an Indian music recording. Both ragas represent departure from tradition yet Shankar's vision for them is fully realized and seamless, in lockstep with a perfect ripened technique that still summons absolute awe, 20 years later. This is endlessly rewarding, authentic music for the soul and surely rates as one of the finest moments of classical artistry ever realized in a studio. An effort with true spiritual utility and aspiration; not a demonstration of talent but an immeasurable gift to humanity, a healing with sound. A review of it when it was released in 1980 read "Quite simply, one of the greatest performances you'll ever hear in your life...Shankar displays a mind-boggling command of the polymetric/microtonal nuances and bravura of South Indian classical music...nothing can prepare you for his vocal tone, blinding execution or emotional intensity"

I have always been a great fan of L Shankar's classical work. This is definitely one of his best. I believe this is the work of one of the best violinists in the world.

I bought this album because of Shankar's brilliant work with John McLaughlin in Shakti. This is very different from Shakti, especially with the introduction of the double violin, but just as beautiful. I have to admit I don't know much about South Indian music, but I recognize extraordinary mastery when I hear it, and I can recommend this recording without reservation.

I have been a professional musican for over 30 years and in that time have got to hear some seriously good musicianship.Shankar is one of the most accomplished players I have ever heard and on this particular CD,he really is in full stride.I believe that the albums he recorded around this time period,represent Shankar in his most exquisite form and "Who's to Know?" is the crowning glory of it all.It is absolutely mind shattering to hear what this guy can do with his custom built 10 string violin and both from a technical and a musical perspective,it is quite unbelievable..
Even at breathtaking speed and with technical articulation that would leave most musicians in the hands of a paramedic,the harmonics are in tune !...Try that at home folks !.. :)

I have an extensive CD library,with some very diverse styles and inflences and this CD "Who's to Know" would have to be my #1 in that collection.

I have all of Shankar's work in that library and I was lucky enough to hear him live in concert at the South Bank Festival Hall in London around the time that this CD was recorded...

Needless to say,that concert is still etched in my memory and it was absolutely xxxxing awesome ! It was mind blowing stuff...

So,do yourselves a really big favour and get a copy of this CD..

There is so much good energy in the music on this disc,that you will walk away from a listening session feeling like you have been plugged into a high voltage power socket.

This CD gets the highest rating that I could award to any album ever recorded.... :) aj washington