Ravi Shankar's Festival from India

Ravi Shankar's Festival from India is a double album by Indian musician and composer Ravi Shankar, released on World Pacific Records in December 1968. It contains studio recordings made by a large ensemble of performers, many of whom Shankar had brought to the United States from India. Among the musicians were Shivkumar Sharma, Jitendra Abhisheki, Palghat Raghu, Lakshmi Shankar, Aashish Khan and Alla Rakha. The project presented Indian classical music in an orchestral setting, so recalling Shankar's work as musical director of All India Radio in the years before he achieved international fame as a soloist during the 1960s.

This article is about the 1968 album by Ravi Shankar. For Shankar's 1974 Indian music revue and 1976 studio album, produced by George Harrison, see Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India.

Ravi Shankar's Festival from India
Studio album by
Ravi Shankar
ReleasedDecember 1968
Recordedmid 1968
World Pacific Studio, Los Angeles
GenreIndian classical
LabelWorld Pacific
ProducerRichard Bock

After recording the album in Los Angeles, Shankar's ensemble – also titled the Festival from India – toured America during June and July 1968. Some of the performers subsequently taught at Shankar's Kinnara School of Music, instructing Western students in the intricacies of Indian music. Shankar revisited the Festival from India concept in 1974, when George Harrison sponsored a program of European concerts titled Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India.

History
Flyer for an October 1967 concert by Shankar and Alla Rakha, held four months after their performance at the Monterey Pop Festival

Having achieved international fame over 1966–67,[1][2] Ravi Shankar spent the early part of 1968 in India filming a documentary of his life, Raga, and writing his first autobiography, My Music, My Life.[3] Both of these projects allowed him to reflect on his status as an ambassador for Indian culture and on the criticism that he received from purists and some fellow musicians in India, who accused him of betraying his roots and commercialising Indian classical music.[4] In a 2007 interview, Shankar continued to refute such criticism, citing his adherence to the guru-shishya tradition, whereby he had nurtured the development of his protégés Harihar Rao, Amiyo Das Gupta, Kartick Kumar and Shamim Ahmed after moving to the United States. He also highlighted the 1968 Festival from India revue as one of many musical ventures where he had brought over other Indian classical performers that were little known in the West.[5]

Before beginning his international career in 1956, Shankar had been musical director of All India Radio[2][6] and head of the national orchestra, the Vadya Vrinda.[7][8] Subsequently, in between his engagements in the West, he had continued to compose and perform orchestral productions, such as Nava Rasa Ranga in 1964.[9] While in India making Raga, Shankar was filmed rehearsing with a large cast of musicians in a Bombay studio.[10] For his Festival from India orchestra, Shankar then asked the following performers to join him in California: his sister-in-law Lakshmi Shankar (vocals), Shivkumar Sharma (santoor), Sharad Kumar (shehnai and flute), Sabri Khan (sarangi), Miskin Khan (tabla and percussion),[11] Jitendra Abhisheki (vocals) and Palghat Raghu (mridangam).[5] His students Das Gupta and Ahmed contributed on tambura and sitar, respectively, while Rao's brother Taranath, although a skilled tablist, played tambura.[12]

In his second autobiography, Raga Mala, Shankar writes that for most of these players, the 1968 Festival from India was "their first big break in the West".[11][nb 1] According to Shankar's recollection, the other personnel were Aashish Khan (sarod) and Fakir Mohammad (dholak and tambura), together with musicians who had regularly accompanied Shankar during his raga recitals in the West: Alla Rakha (tabla), Nodu Mullick (tambura and swarmandel)[17] and Kamala Chakravarty (vocals).[11] The ensemble's instrumentation also included veena and kanjira.[17][18] Some of the performers would subsequently teach at Shankar's Kinnara School of Music,[5] the students of which included rock musicians Jim Morrison[19] and Robbie Krieger of the Doors, Collin Walcott[20] and Russ Titelman.[21]

Recording

With his orchestra assembled in Los Angeles, Shankar recorded a double album, titled Ravi Shankar's Festival from India. The sessions took place at World Pacific's studio and were produced by Richard Bock,[22] the record label's founder.[23][nb 2] Shankar later admired the album as "a highly satisfactory recording" with "many varied items, ranging from classical to folk in style".[26]

Following the opening "Vedic Hymn" (sung by Abhisheki), its content included Shankar's orchestral adaptations of ragas such as Kirwani, Malkauns and Vasanta; thumri and bhajan vocal pieces; and dhun and other traditional folk tunes.[27] The range of instruments also allowed for a blending of the two disciplines of Indian classical music, with sitar, sarod and tabla being the mainstays of the Hindustani (or North Indian) system, while veena, mridangam and kanjira are commonly associated with the Carnatic (South Indian) system.[28][29]

US tour
The Festival from India orchestra performed at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles at the start of the tour.

After the completing the recording, the ensemble undertook a US tour.[26] Among their first engagements, the Festival from India performed at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles over 24–30 June.[30] Although Shankar lists Aashish Khan as the only sarodya in the ensemble,[11] a report in the Van Nuys News included Khan's father (and Shankar's brother-in-law)[31] Ali Akbar Khan among the performers at the Greek Theatre. The newspaper's reviewer, Stephen Braitman, also wrote that, with the sitar "probably the most familiar [instrument]" to the audience, the orchestra's music "spanned nearly every conceivable combination of sound", and following the inspired interplay between Shankar's sitar and Ali Akbar Khan's sarod, the performers received "a screaming, shouting, standing ovation".[32] The opening concert marked the first time that Shankar and Khan performed together in the US.

The ensemble played at Stanford University's Frost Amphitheater on 5 and 6 July, as part of the university's Summer Festival.[18] The Stanford Daily reported that Shankar had gathered "some of the finest musicians of India for this tour" and gave the total number of players as 22. While detailing the varied program, the newspaper highlighted Ali Akbar Khan's presence, along with that of flautist N. Ramani and veena player Doraiswamy Iyengar.[18][nb 3] Later in the year, the Festival from India played in New York, where their show was reviewed in The New York Times by Narayana Menon, head of All India Radio. Menon praised the energy created by Palghat Raghu and Alla Rakha, on mridangam and tabla, respectively, as the two drummers evoked a musical and cultural exchange between the two disciplines of Indian classical music.[34]

Release and legacy

World Pacific Records released Ravi Shankar's Festival from India in December 1968.[35] Described by Shankar as "a beautiful cover jacket", the album's gatefold cover was designed by Jan Steward.[26] Among other Shankar projects, Steward created the artwork for a book accompanying Anthology of Indian Music, a double LP issued by World Pacific in 1969 containing Shankar's spoken history of Indian classical music.[36]

Reviewing the Festival from India album in December 1968, Billboard magazine said that after his past successes, Shankar was now "test[ing] his own market power with a double disk LP, featuring a festival of haunting, hypnotizing instrumentals". The reviewer added that while the price of the double album might adversely affect its commercial performance, "his influence will only grow."[35] In his Raghu obituary, in 2009, music critic Ken Hunt noted that the Oxford English Dictionary had adopted a quote from the 1968 New York Times review in its definition of "mridangam or mridanga". He also admired Raghu's performance on the studio version of "Raga Mishra Gara" as "a North–South drum meeting with Alla Rakha".[37] Following sitarist Shamim Ahmed's death in 2012, Hunt similarly cited his playing on Shankar's Festival from India – in this case, a duet with Aashish Khan – as a career highlight.[38]

Shankar returned to the Festival from India concept in 1974, when he staged a similarly titled revue sponsored by George Harrison.[39] The latter, whose introduction of Indian influences to the Beatles' sound had led to Shankar achieving mainstream popularity during the late 1960s,[40][41] said that he had wanted to present such a revue since 1967,[42] after hearing the sitarist's orchestral work Nava Rasa Ranga.[43][nb 4] Shankar's 1968 studio album was later issued on CD by the specialist reissue label BGO Records.[47]

Track listing

All selections traditional, adapted by Ravi Shankar.

Side one
  1. "Vedic Hymn" – 2:38
  2. "Raga Yemen in Teental (16 Beats)" – 4:40
  3. "Raga Kirwani Alap-Jor-Gat in Teental (16 Beats)" – 12:57
Side two
  1. "Raga Ragehwar Jhaptal (10 Beats), Teental (16 Beats)" – 7:45
  2. "Raga Puryadhanashree Khyal in Slow Ektal (12 Beats) & Fast Teenal (14 Beats)" – 7:42
  3. "Thumri in Manj Khamaj, Talchanghar (14 Beats)" – 4:45
Side three
  1. "Thumri in Mishra Khamaj, Tal Keherwa (4 Beats)" – 3:30
  2. "Raga Malkauns, Rupaktal (7 Beats)" – 6:06
  3. "Raga Vasanta,Tal Rupakam (6 Beats)" – 5:40
  4. "Raga Mishra Gara, Teental (16 Beats)" – 7:41
Side four
  1. "Dhun, Tala Kaharva (8 Beats)" – 4:25
  2. "Sur Das Bhajan Raga Desh in Dadra (3 Beats)" – 4:35
  3. "Punjabi Folk Song" – 2:22
  4. "Doh Bahar" – 10:50

Personnel

Notes
  1. Lakshmi had toured internationally earlier in the 1960s, however, as part of Uday Shankar's dance troupe.[13] Sharma had also begun to establish himself in the West, through the popularity of his album Call of the Valley,[14] a 1967 collaboration with bansuri player Hariprasad Chaurasia and lap slide guitarist Brij Bhushan Kabra.[15][16]
  2. Shankar's piece "V 7½" was also recorded at a Bock-produced session in 1968, featuring jazz flautist Bud Shank and percussionist Emil Richards, along with Festival from India musicians Rakha, Sharma, Aashish Khan, Kumar, Sabri Khan, Miskin Khan, Raghu and Ahmed.[24] The track remained unreleased until its inclusion on the 1996 four-disc compilation Ravi Shankar: In Celebration.[25]
  3. In an interview for Peter Lavezzoli's 2006 book The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, Shankar said that Collin Wallcott, whom he considered the most promising of his Western students, was also among the performers on the 1968 tour.[33]
  4. An admirer of Call of the Valley also,[44] Harrison worked with Festival from India musicians Shivkumar Sharma, Aashish Khan and Sharad Kumar[45] on his 1968 solo album Wonderwall Music, recorded partly in Bombay.[46]

References
  1. World Music: The Rough Guide, p. 109.
  2. Hunt, Ken. "Ravi Shankar". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  3. Lavezzoli, pp. 184, 197.
  4. Shankar 1999, pp. 176, 208–10.
  5. "Reflections" > "Excerpts from a conversation between Raviji and Satish and Shashi Vyas, June 2007". The Ravi Shankar Foundation. 7 December 2013. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  6. Shankar 2007, pp. 92–93, 96.
  7. Shankar 1999, pp. 118–20, 141.
  8. Lavezzoli, pp. 56, 61.
  9. Shankar 1999, pp. 171–72.
  10. Thompson, Howard (24 November 1971). "Screen: Ravi Shankar; 'Raga,' a Documentary, at Carnegie Cinema". The New York Times. p. 23. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  11. Shankar 1999, p. 203.
  12. Shankar 1999, pp. 113, 203.
  13. Isal, Shireen (June 2001). "Lakshmi Shankar – Association Sargam (Interview)". Association Sargam. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  14. Lavezzoli, p. 32.
  15. World Music: The Rough Guide, pp. 75, 78.
  16. Hunt, Ken. "Hariprasad Chaurasia / Brij Bhushan Kabra / Shivkumar Sharma Call of the Valley". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  17. Ravi Shankar's Festival from India (LP inner sleeve credits). Ravi Shankar. World Pacific. 1968.CS1 maint: others (link)
  18. Staff writer (5 July 1968). "Shankar, Indians To Play In Festival". The Stanford Daily. p. 6. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  19. Shankar 1999, pp. 204, 206.
  20. Lavezzoli, pp. 110, 158–59, 425.
  21. White, Timothy (22 June 1996). "'Please Don't Wake Me': Producer Russ Titelman Recalls 35 Years in the Service of a California Dream". Billboard. p. 47. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  22. Shankar 1999, pp. 203–04.
  23. Lavezzoli, p. 61.
  24. Ravi Shankar: In Celebration (booklet). Ravi Shankar. Angel/Dark Horse. 1996. p. 38.CS1 maint: others (link)
  25. Waleson, Heidi (23 December 1995). "Angel set celebrates Ravi Shankar: Sitarist called 'Godfather of World Music'". Billboard. p. 63. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  26. Shankar 1999, p. 204.
  27. Ravi Shankar's Festival from India (LP liner notes). Ravi Shankar. World Pacific. 1968.CS1 maint: others (link)
  28. Lavezzoli, pp. 3–4, 441, 444.
  29. World Music: The Rough Guide, pp. 70, 73, 81, 83.
  30. Weber, Bruce (15 June 1968). "International News Reports" > "Los Angeles". Billboard. p. 57. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  31. Shankar 2007, p. 85.
  32. Braitman, Stephen M.H. (30 June 1968). "Pop Sounds from India Rock Greek: Ravi Shankar, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles". Van Nuys News. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  33. Lavezzoli, pp. 425–26.
  34. Menon, Dr. Narayana (12 September 1968). "Music: A Quick Tour of India's Styles". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  35. Billboard Review Panel (14 December 1968). "Album Reviews" > "Special Merit Picks". Billboard. p. 77. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
  36. Shankar 1999, pp. 204, 231.
  37. Hunt, Ken (30 June 2009). "Palghat R. Raghu: Master of Indian percussion who played with Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha". The Independent. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  38. Hunt, Ken (7 March 2012). "Shamim Ahmed Khan: Sitar player taught by Shankar". The Independent. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  39. Lavezzoli, p. 195.
  40. World Music: The Rough Guide, pp. 109–10.
  41. Dyess-Nugent, Phil (12 December 2012). "R.I.P. Ravi Shankar". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  42. Collaborations (box-set book). Ravi Shankar, George Harrison. Dark Horse Records. 2010. p. 15.CS1 maint: others (link)
  43. Harrison, Olivia (18 October 2010). "George Harrison and Ravi Shankar Box Set 'Collaborations' Is a Labor of Love for Me". Spinner. Archived from the original on 2 January 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  44. Dimery, p. 126.
  45. Wonderwall Music (CD credits). George Harrison. Apple/EMI. 2014.CS1 maint: others (link)
  46. Lavezzoli, pp. 182–83.
  47. "Festival From India by Ravi Shankar (1968)". BGO Records. Retrieved 25 August 2015.

Sources
  • Dimery, Robert (ed.) (2010). 1001 Album You Must Hear Before You Die (rev. edn). New York, NY: Universe. ISBN 978-0-7893-2074-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  • Lavezzoli, Peter (2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. New York, NY: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-2819-3.
  • Shankar, Ravi (2007). My Music, My Life (updated edn). San Rafael, CA: Mandala Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60109-005-8.
  • Shankar, Ravi (1999). Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar. New York, NY: Welcome Rain. ISBN 1-56649-104-5.
  • World Music: The Rough Guide (Volume 2: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific) (2000). London: Rough Guides/Penguin. ISBN 1-85828-636-0.
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