To appreciate this album, you need to appreciate ALL music and the intertwining//fusion//blending of the various influences that has occurred over the years.
Never heard of Ravi? He is a virtuoso of the sitar playing traditional North Indian music on the instrument but he has influenced music and musicians across the whole world.
Ravi's first major engagement with the West was at the Monterey rock festival in 1967
Then he was invited, and played at Woodstock 1969, held on the farm of Max Yasgur.
This was the first Woodstock (in my opinion the ONLY real Woodstock, which I was just slightly too young to experience but I have watched over and over the films and videos of this incredible event 56 years ago)!
At Woodstock, Ravi came out on stage at midnight on Day 1 of the festival, the rain bucketed down and the large crowd (over 500,000 of them!) went absolutely ape-sh**! The atmosphere was electric, this is what the massive crowded wanted to hear ...
Woodstock (the REAL Woodstock) was all about change, a social revolution and musical upheaval.
The young generation (yes I was one of them) wanted a new direction, worldwide conflicts and disillusionment with the status quo caused this generation to seek each other out in peace and harmony - some "oldies" would say it was an enormous "love in" by a bunch of hippies who were off their faces, the air was heavy with "weed" and the mud was incredible (it rained a lot, the heaven's were weeping with joy!)
Influential musicians and bands were searching out new sounds, new meanings - many musicians visited India as a result of the "Ravi Influence" and attempted to understand this new way of thinking (Hindustani) and new "sounds" from instruments such as the sitar. One of the most well known groups who undertook visits to India (but not limited to) was The Beatles, they headed off to India in 1968 and Ravi had a great influence upon George Harrison in particular.
So this extraordinary compilation contains no blues, no rock, no vocals - open your mind and your ears, this special compilation will give the listener a slight taste of the master, Ravi Shankar. Incidentally this release was in celebration of his 90th birthday! Just two years later, Ravi died and his soul moved to "another body", this being the process of Samsara which is the Indian Hindu belief system where once a person dies, they then rebirth into another's body - Western culture calls it reincarnation.
RAVI SHANKAR - The Master
Deutsche Grammophon
Cat# 0289 477 8798
2010
European release
Tri-fold digipak, including the inner booklet, is in very good condition. No personal writing, no seam splits, no damage to any of the CD hub clamps and no damage to any of the cover graphics.
CD media are all very good condition, meaning that I have visually inspected each CD under a white halogen light source and I can see just a couple of very light scuff marks on CD 2 (only), with CD's 1 & 3 being absolutely clean. Just looking at the media is not a good way to judge the condition so I listened (for hours!) to the ENTIRE release, every track on each CD, and there are absolutely no issues with playback of any disc. For me, it was a bit tough to have this much Sitar music hit the ears but it clears the head of "Western music", a bit like a sorbet for the brain!
TRACKS:
The Spirit Of India - Ravi Shankar Plays Ragas
Raga Jogeshwari
Alap, Jor, Gat I (Tala: Jhap-Tal), Gat II (Tala: Ek-Tal)
Raga Hameer
Raga Hameer
Ravi Shankar - Homage To Mahatma Ghandi
Raga Mohan Kauns (Homage To Mahatma Gandhi), Raga Gara, Tata Forodast
Ravi Shankar & Friends - Towards The Rising Sun
Padhasapa, Kaharwa, Improvisation On The Theme Of "Rodukan", Namah Shivaya, Tribute To Nippon, Raga Hemant (Homage To Baba Allauddin)
