Search - Ravi Shankar :: Morning Raga / Evening Raga

I have a sudden urge to ride an elephant.

spiral_mind | Pennsylvania | 11/14/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Twang.. twang.. twaaaaaaaannnnnnng. The sitar is one of those instruments that can't be confused for any other, so if you don't like it, run for the hills. Stay around long enough to give one of these albums a chance, though, and you might find it growing on you in ways you don't expect. Whether you just want some quiet pleasing background noise or if you want to hear a simple rhythmic pattern being changed at every turn, you'll be well satisfied here in either case. Fascinated with modern math-rock, where people do fun things with shifting time signatures? This disc will be food for thought for quite a while.



The setup is simple: sitar, tamboura and tabla (hand drums). The first thirteen minutes of "Raga Nala Bhairav" float through the air in a haze of unaccompanied echoing strings, building layer on layer as the older ones fade. It's passages like this that probably demonstrate Shankar's graceful touch the most, although nothing is lost once the percussion joins in for the rest of the album. From that point on it's a collective effort, everyone playing around a rhythm that just can't be pinned down for long. You may think this setup doesn't lend itself to much heaviness, but "Raga Mishra Piloo" builds and builds to a fiery jam at the end that burns no less brightly for not being conventionally 'heavy.'



I don't know where to rate it in the vast Shankar catalogue, but on its own merits this album is hard to find fault with. It makes a pretty good introduction to classical Indian music for newbies (see also: The Sounds of India) and an immensely satisfying listen for those who already love it. The remastering makes this disc sound like it could have been recorded this morning. Five stars because it's a strong release from start to finish, exotic and calming and undeniably beautiful."

He's still the best.

HOT MIX | Southwest Desert | 07/09/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I love all the Indian sitarists but Ravi Shankar is still the best and I have all his albums, I especially like "sound of sitar" and "three ragas". Others sitarists I love are Ali Akbar Khan, Nikhil Banerjee, Jan Garbarek, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Irshad Kahn, Rash Bilashkhani Todi, Ustad Vilayat Khan. I must admit I don't like the frenetic--I prefer slower and more contemplative like "Magic of Twilight" by Irshad Kahn or "Magic of the Indian Sitar" by Rash Todi, or "Garden of Dreams" and "Journey" by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Slow, melodious evokes thought but when things get loud and cacaphonous it's a little hard to take for the "MEDITATION" section. It's all a matter of personal preference and shouldn't start an international scandal just because more introverted folk prefer the slow and subtle."

The greatest ragas I've heard so far....

Grigory's Girl | NYC | 01/28/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is my favorite Ravi album (I have the albums In San Francisco, In London, and In New York). The Evening Raga is the greatest raga I've ever heard. 24 minutes of blinding intensity. I saw Ravi a few years back in Chicago and he was fantastic. He played with more energy and precision than rock stars 1/4 of his age (he was 80 at the time!). Sitar music requires a degree of seriousness on the part of the listener, and too often it's dismissed as something left over from the hippie 1960's. Everytime you see a 1960's flashback on a sitcom (The Simpsons is especially guilty of this), the background music is almost exclusively sitar music. Sitar music existed long before the 1960's, and it can be loved and appreciated without any drug influence. Long live Ravi! Let him live another 80 years...



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