RAVI SHANKAR LIVE

Ravi Shankar's concerts in 2010 have been billed as "The Farewell Tour". The gigs have a mesmeric vibe: this one began, appropriately, with the "Evening Raga".

Shankar played three ragas. Seated between his tabla player at the left (from the audience's view) of the stage and his daughter at the right, Shankar sat on the edge of his raised, cushion-like platform and peeled off licks.

He also made some jokes with the audience, and announced the last raga (part of which is in the clip below) by saying that it would include some free improvised parts, referencing popular music as well as classical.

Shankar's first recordings were in 1956, and the album from that year, "Three Ragas", is still among many peoples' favorite Shankar albums.

Three ragas in a concert seem to be a good combination: this concert was three ragas also, plus a brief "encore".

Another classic Shankar album is "Sound Of The Sitar", from 1965. It is a safe bet that George Harrison bought that one... Harrison once called Shankar "the father of world music".

Since then Shankar has, of course, also been championed by (and recorded with) conductor Andre Previn, and minimalist composer Philip Glass.

Shankar is seen here with Anoushka playing a section from his third raga/tala of the evening's concert. The music at this point seemed to feel more Arabic than the rest of the concert.

Fantastic vibe... the opening figure on this video has been in my head quite a lot.

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