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Idteoo ostoeo axa SrobanorsevATo the Indian quality of serenity, the Indian musician
brings an exalted personal expression of union with
the infinite, as in infinite love. —Yehudi Menuhin
By Ira Landgarten
T= LEADING MUSICAL AMBASSADOR is Ravi
‘Shankar: concert soloist, teacher, composer, and con:
ductor of orchestra, film, and ballet music. His name
has become virtually synonymous with the sitar and the
vast musical tradition of India, which he has singe
handedly brought to the attention of Western
ears since his U'S. debut in 1956,
His biiliant recitals in leading concert
halls throughout the world, his important
appearances at the U.N. and on major tele
vision programs, his best-selling record
albums, and his tremendous impact on the
‘music and culture of the ‘iis gave Ravi
Shankar wider public exposure than any
fother Indian artist in history, making him
‘one of the legendary music personalities of
the age. Though his music has been likened
to jazz, and though in some circles he came
to be mistakenly regarded asa “cult quru of
the psychedelic "60s," Ravi Shankar has
always been a virtuoso classical instrumen:
talist—e living embodiment of the artistic
hentage of one of the world’s oldest cul
tures. More than that, he is undoubtedly
‘one of the most gifted and imaginative mas
ters of improvisation that the music world
has ever encountered. Several years ago BS
the New York Times wrote, “Cultivated listeners are staggered by
Shankar's nimble, masterful technique and by the wide emotional
span—say to soukprobing—oi his extemporizations, His flashing,
high speed jhalas are in as high a virtuoso class as anvthing this
century has heard from Horowitz, Heiletz, Casals, or Menuhin.”
Ravi Shankar was born in Benaves, the Holy City of India, on
Apri 7, 1920. He was the youngest of four sons in an orthodox
Hindu Brahmin family. Raised by his mother and older brothers,
Rev left Incha at age ten to join his brother Uday’s famous company
‘of dancers and musicians in Paris. His travels with the troupe
throughout the Continent and to America brought him in contact
with many of the outstanding Western musicians of the time and
‘gave him a unique understanding of and respect for Western music
and culture. Though he was obviously developing into a dancer and
‘musician of extraordinary talent, young Ravis passion for attaining
‘mastery of Indian classical music led him to Ustad Allaudin Khan,
India’s foremost musician
Inthe mid-1940s, after seven and a haf years of rigorous training
in the technique of star and in Indian music in general, he embarked
‘an his career asa classical soloist and soon established himself as a
topilight young musician. In 1948 he began experiments in orches:
trating Indian music on a previously unattempted scale, and he
successfully founded, composed for, and conducted the Vadve
Vrinda—the Indian National Orchestra—at Alindia Radio, where
he was Director of Music until 1957.
Then followed an extraordinary period in Shankar's career. Not
only had he started touring and recording in the ULS. and Europe,
but several fms on which he had worked as musical director or
‘composer received tremendous critical acclaim both in India and
abroad. Pather Panchali, part of Satyait Ray's “Apu trilogy,” won
first prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Shankar became the first
Indian musician to receive an award for best music direction from a
Ira Landgarten, an accomplished sitarst in his own right, has
studied and performed in India. He authored a comprehensive
article on the sitar for the September issue of Frets.
28 FRETS MAGAZINE/NOVEMBER 1979
foreign country, winning the
Silver Bear award of Beri
for the film Kabuiiwola; and
he was also the first to be
invited to write music for
non Indian films, such as the
short Canadian fantasy The
Chairy Tale, which was
honored atthe Venice Film
Festival. The Flute And
‘The Bou Chappaqua, and
Charlie also represented
noteworthy Shankar ef
forts, and for Anuradha he
‘was honored with his na
D> tion's President’s Medal
>) for the year 1961. The
music he wrote for the
ballets Jndia Immortal
and Discovery Of India was acclaimed as a landmark in conters
porary ballet music creation. In 1958 he was invited to the
UNESCO Music Festival in Paris, where he performed in concert
with violinists Yehudi Menuhin and David Orstrakh. In 1962, Shankar
received the Padma Bhushan, the Presidential Avard. This, the
highest honor India gives in the ars, was presented to him “for his
outstanding contribution to Indian music and culture,” and he has
won the award four times since,
hn 1966 he was unwittingly catapulted to superstardom through
his association with George Harrison and the Beatles; and his
historic appearances at the Monterey Pop Festival, the Woodstock
pop festival, and the Benefit Concert for Bangla Desh (with Ustad
{Ai Akbar Khan) brought his music to unprecedented millions. In
1967 he highlighted his long series of highly successful international
tours with specific concentration in the U.S. He held a visiting
professorship in music at the City College of New York, and his
plans were realized for the establishment of The Kinnara School of
Indian Music and Culture in Los Angeles. His autobiography, My
‘Music, My Life (Simon & Schuster, 1968), was well received, andit
sill serves asa text in many ethnomusic survey courses. Not all of
his projects have been so successful, however—his film Raga closed
after only a few days in New York, and the immense strain of
touring with George Harrison and the “Festival Of India,” a com>
pany comprised of 16 Indian musicians, vitually drove him to a
nervous breakdown. So he disappeared from the concert circuit
during the 1976 and 1977 season, returning to the classical milieu
with performances of his Concerto For Sitar And Orchestra, and
ith solo recitals that featured his long-time accompanist Alla Rakha
fon tabla. Recently, he has been at work on his second concerto for
Star and orchestra
‘A few words about the classical north Indian style are in order,
for a basic understanding of the principles on which itis based will
certainly enhance ary Western istener’s enjoyment of it
According to Shankar: “Indian music stil retains its ancient
tradition and forms, though its evolution from the Vedic chants ar
slow transition through its middle ages has been a process continu:
ing over many centuries. Music is mentioned in our religious texts
and heroic tales, and was considered @ part of Yoga and a means
aSHANKAR
OF The Sitar
{or reaching spiritual flllment. Furthermore, music was a part of
all entertainments, ceremonies, and rituals til about the thirteenth
‘century, by which time, mostly in northern India, t became con-
‘centrated in the princely courts. It was then that two different
schools originated: in southern India the Karmatic system, which
stil holds to the ariginal tradition rigidly; and in northern India the
Hindusthani system, which has undergone various dynamic changes,
hile stil clinging to the essence of the old traction.”
‘Shanker belongs to the ancient Beenkar Gharana (a style
evolved by vina players [see Frets, Sept. 79, "The Sitar") and
(generally performs in the khyel siyle currently predominant in
orth India. Khycl, meaning “imagination” or “fancy,” 's a singing
style believed to have originated inthe thirteenth century with Amit
Khusru, inventor of the sitar, and is characterized by its rich,
deicately omamented phrases.
"Ragas ("to tinge with emotional color” or “that which colors the
rind”) form the basis for his improvisations. Ragas are precise
trelody forms, each with its own ascending and descending move-
tment, stresses and subtleties, and particular notes and ornaments
that can only be used in relation to other notes in defrite melodic
figures. Each raga has its own character, color, and mood, which
build an atmosphere appropriate to the time of day or night,
season, oF occasion. Shankar allows his mood of the moment to
ictate the choice of pieces to be played, explaining “Indian mus
cians constant) go through feelings of adventure and excitement,
fs do their listeners, as they create and improvise within the set
fimits and fundamental rules ofthe rogas and falas [rhythmic cycles
with fixed time units)”
‘A recital begins wth the Alan a slou, serene, ently improvised
invocation without fixed rhythm, in which the artist tries to evoke
the image and mood of the raga by exhaustively exploring its
melodie characteristics, With only the drone fanpura constantly
Sounding the tonic and daminant as a guiding background, a single
strand of melody supports the weight of musical invention. Each
note sounded is judged relative to the tonic, and the resultant
interval has its. special kind of feeling, tension, or sympathetic
response. It is this constantly sustained drone that permits the
Indian musician to distinguish minutely fine interval, 22 of which,
known a8 shrutis, ate diferentated within an octave. A thythmic
pulse is introduced in the Jor, or second movement, is innumer
‘ble variations and gradually increasing tempo culminating in the
‘Thala, oF third movement, a high speed virtuoso display of rhythm
patterns played on the chikari (drone strings ofthe sitar) agninst a
Featively slow-moving melodic line played on the main strings.
‘At last the sitar i joined by the tabla (tuned fingerdrums) for
the gat (a fixed instrumental composition in any tala). Gatsin slow,
‘medium, and fast tempos serve as foundations for various types of
improvisations for both sitar and tabla. The instruments often take
turns in creating complex counter-thythms, or “thythmic wars,”
always resolving at the last on sum, the alimportant first beat of
the thythmic cyele, which is also the terminating point for al
improvisatory excursions. A gai composition continually coincides
with, or held together by, the sum. Its interesting to note that
‘Shankar is credited with the introduction ofthe tabla asa virtuoso
instrument in the ensemble, Prevousy, drummers had litle status
land were constantly exhorted to merely “keep the beat,” whereas
Ravi has trained and encouraged his tabla players t0 perform
‘complex improvisations that are often “answers” to his own exter
porizations as the lead voice of the ensemble
Th the last stage of the rage’s development, the gat often ends in
a fhala-this time accompanied by tabla-—rapid, repeated melodic
designs building to a brilint climax.
‘Commenting further on the understanding of his music, Shankar
explains, "Indian music is modal by nature, and though harmony
may be’ present in its simplest form, it is imherent rather than
Gelberate The Western listener will appreciate and erioy our
‘music more if he listene with an open and relaxed mind—without
‘expecting to hear harmony, counterpoint, or the mixed tone colors,
that may be considered the prime essentials of a symphonic work.
fr similar work. Neither should our music be thought of as akin £0
jazz, despite the improvisation and exciting rhythms present in
both kinds of music. The Bstener should relax rather in the rich
melody and rhythm, and with the exquisitely subile inflections
through which the atmosphere of a raga is built up.”
Ravi Shankar spoke with Frets in Los Angeles last May, a few
days before the US. premiere of his East Greets East. The innova
tive program, an exotic blending of Indian end Japanese classical
ges was pressed atthe Ot Ferbane Santa Barbera,
fornia,
THAT FIRST attracted you to the sitar?
jl, | remember that when Iwas a child in Benares there
used to bea star that belonged to my elder brother, Rajendra, and
itused to be kept in the corner. Whenever [had the chance—i was
so curious and | Bked the sound—I used to pluck it; and T was
Caught once or twice and punished for it.I wes very young then,
‘maybe five of six. But | was lucky; my eldest brother, Uday, was
the pioneer in bringing dance and music to the West from Inca for
the frst time, This was 1980, and I was just ten when [joined his
troupe and went to Paris, There | was absolutely in heaven because
there were ail the instruments—he had the largest Indian instru
‘ment collection and I could “fiddle” with any intrument. But sitar
‘was always my favorite.
‘Do you feel that sitar is perhaps the most dificult Inan instru
‘ment to master?
Personally | would think so, though I know that every musician
thinks the same way about his instrument! But sitar is the only
instrument I know that hurts both ways—that is, it hurts both your
hands. Usually an instrument hurts one of the hands—the fingers
that deal with the strings. But the other hand, no matter how much
you work, ether with a bow or a plectrum, doesn't hurt that much,
With sitar, you have to wear a plectrum tke a ring on your right
forefinger and it hurts very much. Some times it gets septic. Sitar
cuts the lft hand fingers that are on the steel wires as well
What was it about sitar that you found particularly appeatina,
‘and what made you devote your Ife to i?
Tn the beginning I had a hard time deciding between dilruba,
flute, sarode, and sitar. I was playing sarode quite well. Somehow it
was aso the advice of my guru, Ustad Allaucin Khan, to some
textent, plus my own preference, I started liking the star more be-
cause this is an instrument where one has so much scope, in the
Sense that one can produce the affect of voice and the eifect of a
‘bowed instrument, while by plucking withthe right hand one can
also get all the metric patterns and diferent sounds
Was sitar already popular in India when you began studvina it?
(Oh, yes! Sitar has always been, I would say, the most popular
instrument In a way, it position is like violin in the classical music
of the West
Who were some of the musicians who influenced you, per
formers who were legends in your youth?
First and foremost was ray guru, Ustad Alaudin Khan himsel
‘Then there were great singers ike Faiyaz Khan and Abdul Karim
Khan, Among sitarists there was one who Iwas very machimpressed
by, though he was not wellknown; he was in a remote princely
state in northeast India, and his name was Rameshwar Pattal.
Continued
[NOVEMBER 1579/FRETS MAGAZINE 29