Search - Ravi Shankar :: Master of Sitar

Flawed Compilation

Ragamala | UK | 01/21/2004

(2 out of 5 stars)

"It is a great shame that Ravi Shankar has been treated to a rash of reissues and cd compilations in recent years. At best it's a pity because his longer concert performances are under-represented in the cd catalogue.The performances on this compilation CD are all from the vinyl age when raga was squeezed down to fit the format, and the result is a loss of the true essence of Indian raga performance. 30 years on, to continue to treat the western market to short performances like this is somewhere between misleading, patronising and exploitatative.The worst crime is that on this cd the live Pancham Se Gara track is actually cut and faded before the climax.Nevertheless there are a couple of good performances on the CD and its generous total length make it a fair purchase if you want an introduction to Ravi Shankar's work, although I think it only merits a budget price band.If it's a true master of sitar you want, and a more truthful exposition of raga, try some of the Nikhil Banerjee live performance CDs, which knock spots off this poor effort."