Incomplete strings
When an artiste becomes a legend in his or her lifetime, it is close to being an impossible and tedious task to compile all their work at one place. However, EMI records seemed to want to achieve just that by releasing a 10 CD set titled 'The Ravi Shankar Collection' of the sitar maestro's assorted recordings.
This supposedly definitive collection is priced at a very tourist-friendly sum of Rs 1,995 only! Alas, EMI clearly seems to have failed to deliver what it wanted to. Truth lies in the details, and in this case, if you scan the set thoroughly, it comes across as just another commonplace collection of older recordings re-packaged, almost mocking his fans and music lovers. At the most, this set is like a shoddily-packaged, glossy and well-marketed coffee table book, severely lacking any quality content for the real music
connoisseur.
However, the few bits and scraps that are worth enjoying are the pure classical ragas throughout the collection. They include Raag Khamaaj in CD 1, an hour long Mishra Piloo in CD 4 (strangely repeated in CD 10!), a soulful Raag Bhimpalasi with Panditji's introduction in CD 7 and ragas Marwa (repeated in CD 5!) and Lalit in CD 9.
Most of the other CDs have Panditji's orchestrated work. In CD 2, Panditji presents Raga Mala or a garland of ragas in a western classical concerto style. Using Raga Lalit as an opening presto, Panditji takes the help of Bairagi and Yaman Kalyan for a filling moderato and ends with an allegro with Miyan ki Malhar.
The clever compiling of these exquisite ragas exhibit yet another of the many facets of the maestro's artistic genius. While one must commend the maestro in taking the sitar and marking it significantly on the global musical geography, one can clearly sense this present set has done no justice to his body of work.
For anyone who knows their 'Ravi Shankar' well, this collection comes across as bland and incomplete. Over the decades, his name has become synonymous with the instrument as he ensured it reached global audiences.
His collaborations with The Beatles, violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Philip Glass, Zubin Mehta, sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, tabla wizards Ustad Allah Rakha and his son Ustad Zakir Hussain, all remain significant in his nine-decade-long musical journey.
Unfortunately, this collection seems to lack most of those precious recordings or historical collaborations. Except for a few pure classical pieces, most of the other recordings across the set are repeats and show the sheer laziness of a label like EMI and their lack of reverence to the maestro's lifetime work.
In an era ruled by the internet and rampant piracy, this highly over-priced set of 10 CDs comes across as a lazy effort and yet another gimmick by a very popular label, which is rather disappointing. This is certainly not 'the' collection.
When an artiste becomes a legend in his or her lifetime, it is close to being an impossible and tedious task to compile all their work at one place. However, EMI records seemed to want to achieve just that by releasing a 10 CD set titled 'The Ravi Shankar Collection' of the sitar maestro's assorted recordings.
This supposedly definitive collection is priced at a very tourist-friendly sum of Rs 1,995 only! Alas, EMI clearly seems to have failed to deliver what it wanted to. Truth lies in the details, and in this case, if you scan the set thoroughly, it comes across as just another commonplace collection of older recordings re-packaged, almost mocking his fans and music lovers. At the most, this set is like a shoddily-packaged, glossy and well-marketed coffee table book, severely lacking any quality content for the real music
connoisseur.
However, the few bits and scraps that are worth enjoying are the pure classical ragas throughout the collection. They include Raag Khamaaj in CD 1, an hour long Mishra Piloo in CD 4 (strangely repeated in CD 10!), a soulful Raag Bhimpalasi with Panditji's introduction in CD 7 and ragas Marwa (repeated in CD 5!) and Lalit in CD 9.
Most of the other CDs have Panditji's orchestrated work. In CD 2, Panditji presents Raga Mala or a garland of ragas in a western classical concerto style. Using Raga Lalit as an opening presto, Panditji takes the help of Bairagi and Yaman Kalyan for a filling moderato and ends with an allegro with Miyan ki Malhar.
The clever compiling of these exquisite ragas exhibit yet another of the many facets of the maestro's artistic genius. While one must commend the maestro in taking the sitar and marking it significantly on the global musical geography, one can clearly sense this present set has done no justice to his body of work.
For anyone who knows their 'Ravi Shankar' well, this collection comes across as bland and incomplete. Over the decades, his name has become synonymous with the instrument as he ensured it reached global audiences.
His collaborations with The Beatles, violin virtuoso Yehudi Menuhin, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Philip Glass, Zubin Mehta, sarod maestro Ustad Ali Akbar Khan, tabla wizards Ustad Allah Rakha and his son Ustad Zakir Hussain, all remain significant in his nine-decade-long musical journey.
Unfortunately, this collection seems to lack most of those precious recordings or historical collaborations. Except for a few pure classical pieces, most of the other recordings across the set are repeats and show the sheer laziness of a label like EMI and their lack of reverence to the maestro's lifetime work.
In an era ruled by the internet and rampant piracy, this highly over-priced set of 10 CDs comes across as a lazy effort and yet another gimmick by a very popular label, which is rather disappointing. This is certainly not 'the' collection.