Search - Ravi Shankar :: The Ravi Shankar Collection : Live Ravi Shankar at the Monterey International Pop Festival (Audio CD)

About the CD
Raga Bhimpalasi is a very old raga dating back at least five or six hundred years. It is to be played in the afternoon between three and five oclock. Ravi Shankar retains the traditional style of drupad and raga Alapana of the Beenkar Gharana originated by Tansen, the great master of north Indian music, in the sixteenth century. (This school is named for the been or veena, which is the ancestor of the sitar).through his extensive and profound training from Ustad Allaudin Khan, Ravi Shankar is able to capture the highly spiritual and noble nature of this style. The rendering of this raga is in three movements: alap, jor and jhala.
Table solo in Ektal Alla Rakha plays the tabla solo in a fast ektal, a cycle of 12 beats divided 2-2-1-1.
Dhun (Dadra and Fast Teental). Ravi Shankar plays this number based on a raga known as Pancham-Se-Ghara, named and popularized by him for instruments. A dhun is a melody or air based on thumri, the highly ornamented romantic musical style of the Hindustani system of north India. After establishing the theme, one has the freedom to bring into the performance other melodies based on other ragas and folk tunes, but always to return to the main theme. The first piece is in a rhythm cycle of six beats known as dadra; the second is in a fast teental, a cycle of sixteen beats. Both pieces were adapted by Ravi Shankar.
Playing at the Monterey pop festival was indeed a very rare experience in my life. I was there almost two days before my performance, which was on Sunday afternoon. I came on Friday as I wanted to see and hear the other pop groups. From the very beginning I was a bit nervous in going to Monterey at all, because I knew this was going to be entirely a pop music festival and I felt, as many of my friends also felt, that my music wouldnt fit into that atmosphere, because the music I represent is strictl