Search - Ravi Shankar :: In New York

Pretty good intro to Indian music

Moses Alexander | Alabama, USA | 03/15/2004

(3 out of 5 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."