Ravi Shankar is a renowned master of the Indian sitar (a stringed instrument, pictured on the left). He is considered one of the world’s greatest musicians, and at the age of 85 continues to give concerts, tour, teach, and compose. Born in 1920 in India, he studied with a famous Indian musician and dedicated himself to his music. In 1954, he performed in the Soviet Union, in 1956, he played his debut solo concerts in Western Europe and the U.S. Within a decade he would be the most famous Indian musician on the planet -- in 1966, Beatles guitarist George Harrison studied with him and featured the sitar on the Beatles song Norwegian Wood. His association with the Beatles made Shankar an international star. His life-long mission has been to bring the music of the East to Western ears, and his English-language autobiography, My Music, My Life (1969), is still one of the best general introductions to Hindustani music.
He was the first to interface with western musicians to make the space for fusions of all sort which have followed in his wake. This had provided an easy handle to his critics to beat him with. Today they are too busy vying to outdo his record. "But I did not compromise the essential spirit of classicism," insists Ravi Shankar, "besides, I never played with popstars."
True, he might have taught the Beatles but he did not play with them. And his legacy will be as much a watershed in our cultural landscape as that of his Liverpool acolytes on the global stage.
I have been uploading a series of classical ragas by Ravi Shankar, and a few by Ustad Ali Akbar Khan... This is the third posting of Ragas by Shankar. As these tracks come from an assembled collection of Mp3s, they are not complete albums -- just individual ragas, many of which are in excess of 20 minutes in length.
These may have limited appeal, but I'm doing it for the sake of those few who really appreciate this exquisite music, and these great performances. If three or four of you are able to hear music you have never heard before -- or if a few of you find tracks here that you have been unable to find -- that's the point. A few of these mp3s are top-notch, and some are at low bit-rates, but are still of CD quality. You may be encouraged to buy the proper CDs to get the full benefit. If nothing else, you can choose two or three ragas and burn them to a disc for an hour's worth of good background music and good listening -- perhaps with something that may expand your consciousness even further?
Raga Alahya Bilawal (Morning Raga)
21:52 [160kbps] - dl=24.8mb
Raga Bihag - Ahmedjan Thirakhwa (Late Evening Raga)
19:48 [160kbps] - dl=22.5mb
Raga Charu Keshi
13:30 [192kbps] - dl=18.4mb
Raga Charukauns - (01) Alap, Jod, and Jhala
25:05 [183kbps] - dl=32.8mb
Raga Charukauns - (03) Dhun in Chanchar and Teental
17:58 [197kbps] - dl=25.4mb
Raga Pahadi Jhinjhoti
29:12 [128kbps] - dl=26.5mb
Raga Puriya-Dhanashri (Live at Woodstock)
10:49 [160kbps] - dl=12.3mb
Raga Sindhi-bhairavi
14:58 [192kbps] - dl=20.4mb
Raga Shuddha Sarang - Tintal (16 beats)
22:43 [128kbps] - dl=20.4mb
Raga Yaman - Gat - Matta Tal (2+3+4)
9:18 [224kbps] -dl=14.8mb
Raga Abhogi
10:22 [160kbps] - dl=11.8mb
Raga Malika Ravi Shankar & Ali Akbar Khan
18:59 [128kbps] - dl=17.3mb
Tabla Solo In Jhaptal (Live at Woodstock)
8:59 [160kbps] - dl=10mb
Password for all files = orek
Contributed by: orek
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