A sitar, a stage, and a sea of possibility - Pt. Ravi Shankar’s raga masterworks forever altered what Indian classical music could sound and mean. Some musicians preserve tradition. Ravi Shankar, though, stretched it until the old world sang something utterly new. Upending established approaches, he introduced innovative raga structures, reworked the sitar itself (adding sympathetic strings for a richer, more haunting palette), and invited tabla players to step forward with jaw-dropping solos, not just accompaniment. Pandit Ravi Shankar and Table maestro Ustad Alla Rakha performing at the Monterey International Pop Festival, 1967 (@thelegendsofmusic/Instagram) At his concerts (Carnegie Hall, Monterey Pop, Woodstock - wherever!), you’d often get Bhairavi or Yaman at sunrise, or a raga from his own hand - like Parameshwari or Rasiya - which blended South Carnatic cycles with North Indian melodic lines. People walked in whispering about “exoticism;” they left on fire for something altogether freer. The ...
A sitar, a stage, and a sea of possibility - Pt. Ravi Shankar’s raga masterworks forever altered what Indian classical music could sound and mean. Some musicians preserve tradition. Ravi Shankar, though, stretched it until the old world sang something utterly new. Upending established approaches, he introduced innovative raga structures, ...
A sitar, a stage, and a sea of possibility - Pt. Ravi Shankar’s raga masterworks forever altered what Indian classical music could sound and mean. Some musicians preserve tradition. Ravi Shankar, though, stretched it until the old world sang something utterly new. Upending established approaches, he introduced innovative raga structures, ...
A sitar, a stage, and a sea of possibility - Pt. Ravi Shankar’s raga masterworks forever altered what Indian classical music could sound and mean. Some musicians preserve tradition. Ravi Shankar, though, stretched it until the old world sang something utterly new. Upending established approaches, he introduced innovative raga structures, ...