él Records: Ravi Shankar — That Which Colours the Mind (Audio CD)

Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!

Product Details:

• Product Type: Audio CD
• Brand / Label: él Records (in association with Cherry Red Records)
• Catalog Number: ACMEM217CD
• Artist: Ravi Shankar; with Ali Akbar Khan and Chatur Lal (selected tracks)
• Release Year: 2011 (compilation)
• Original Recordings: 1954–1957
• Producer: George Avakian (tracks 1–5, 1957); UNESCO Anthology of Indian Classical Music (tracks 6–8); archival (track 9)
• Genre: Indian Classical Music / World Music
• Style: Hindustani Classical, Raga, Sitar
• UPC: 5013929321731
• Condition: Factory Sealed

Product Features

• Format: Audio CD
• Discs: 1
• Tracks: 9
• Total runtime: approx. 79 minutes
• Recording: Studio and archive, 1954–1957; remastered for CD
• Packaging: Standard jewel case, factory sealed
• Manufactured in EU, distributed by PHD

Overview

The word "raga" translates roughly as "that which colours the mind." It's a fitting title for a collection that does exactly that — nine performances from the mid-1950s, when Ravi Shankar was still years away from international fame and playing purely for the music.

Shankar wouldn't become a household name in the West until the Beatles discovered him — introduced to his recordings by Roger McGuinn at a gathering in Benedict Canyon. What followed is well documented: the sitar crept into Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Sgt. Pepper, and Shankar became one of the most recognisable musicians on the planet. But this CD predates all of that, and it's the better for it. There's no crossover agenda here. Just Hindustani classical music played at the highest level.

The disc is built around five tracks produced by George Avakian in 1957 — among the finest studio recordings Shankar made in that decade. They're joined by selections from the UNESCO Anthology of Indian Classical Music, recorded around the same period, and a 1954 performance of "Raga Puriya Kalyan" that remains a highlight of the set. Two tracks feature Ali Akbar Khan on sarod and tabla player Chatur Lal alongside Shankar, giving the collection extra breadth.

At nearly 80 minutes across nine tracks, this is not background listening. Each raga is given room — the slow unfolding of an alap, the gradual intensification of rhythm, the sense of a performance building and releasing over its own arc. David Crosby once said it would be impossible not to be moved by Shankar. This is the evidence.

Interesting Facts

• Ravi Shankar (1920–2012) was born in Varanasi and trained under the legendary sarod master Allauddin Khan for seven years, living and studying in his household from the age of 18.
• The five centrepiece tracks were produced by George Avakian — one of the most important figures in jazz and world music recording, also responsible for landmark Miles Davis sessions at Columbia in the late 1950s.
• Ali Akbar Khan, who appears on two tracks, was both Shankar's close friend and the son of his teacher; their musical partnership spanned decades and helped define the sound of Indian classical music for international audiences.
• Shankar's influence on the Beatles extended far beyond George Harrison's sitar experiments: Harrison studied formally under Shankar in India in 1966, a commitment that influenced his entire subsequent approach to music and spirituality.
• The UNESCO Anthology of Indian Classical Music, from which several tracks here are drawn, was a landmark documentation project of the mid-1950s aimed at preserving and distributing traditional music from across the Indian subcontinent.
• Chatur Lal, the tabla player on the Avakian sessions, is credited by many music historians as one of the first Indian classical percussionists to bring the tabla to international concert stages, touring with Shankar in Europe and America.
• Despite the album's psychedelic-leaning title and elephant-motif artwork, every track dates from a decade before Shankar's contact with the counterculture — these are recordings of pure classical form, untouched by Western influence.

Track Listing

Ravi Shankar:

1. Raga Abhogi
2. Raga Des
3. Tabla Solo – Jhaptal
4. Sitar Todi
5. Thumri
6. Le Mode Ahiri-Lalita

Ravi Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan & Chatur Lal:

1. Sitar, Sarode Et Tabla

Ali Akbar Khan:

1. Le Mode Sindhi-Bhairavi

Ravi Shankar:

1. Raga Puriya Kalyan

Publishers

Released by él Records in 2011, in association with Cherry Red Records Ltd, Power Road Studios, 114 Power Road, Chiswick, London W4 5PY, United Kingdom. Manufactured in the EU, distributed by PHD.

Heard something here that surprised you? A short review helps other collectors find it.