The sitar is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India and flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries and arrived at its present form in 18th-century India.
Ravi Shankar, whose name is often preceded by the title Pandit (Master), was an Indian sitar virtuoso and a composer. He became the world's best-known exponent of North Indian classical music, in the second half of the 20th century, and influenced many other musicians throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999.
"Norwegian Wood " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album Rubber Soul. It was written mainly by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. Influenced by the introspective lyrics of Bob Dylan, the song is considered a milestone in the Beatles' development as songwriters. The track features a sitar part, played by lead guitarist George Harrison, that marked the first appearance of the Indian string instrument on a Western rock recording. The song was a number 1 hit in Australia when released on a single there in 1966, coupled with "Nowhere Man".
The Sarod is a stringed instrument, used mainly in Hindustani music on the Indian subcontinent. Along with the sitar, it is among the most popular and prominent instruments. It is known for a deep, weighty, introspective sound, in contrast with the sweet, overtone-rich texture of the sitar, with sympathetic strings that give it a resonant, reverberant quality. A fretless instrument, it can produce the continuous slides between notes known as meend (glissandi), which are important in Indian music.
"Love You To" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. The song was written and sung by George Harrison and features Indian instrumentation such as sitar and tabla. Following Harrison's introduction of the sitar on "Norwegian Wood" in 1965, it was the first Beatles song to fully reflect the influence of Indian classical music. The recording was made with minimal participation from Harrison's bandmates; instead, he created the track with tabla player Anil Bhagwat and other Indian musicians from the Asian Music Circle in London.
"Paint It Black" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it is an uptempo song with Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European influences featuring a sitar part played by multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones. The lyrics are about grief, death, and loss. The song was released as a single on 7 May 1966 in the United States by London Records and 13 May in the United Kingdom by Decca Records. It was included as the opening track on the American version of the band's 1966 studio album Aftermath.
Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan is an Indian classical sitar maestro from the Imdadkhani gharana. He represents the seventh generation of the Etawah Gharana as its primary exponent. He is praised especially for the vocalistic phrasing and quality of his raga improvisations, known as "Gayaki Ang." This translates to "Singing branch/limb". The sitar legend, Ustad Vilayat Khan resurrected and re-introduced Gayaki Ang as a widely accepted sitar genre in India and abroad, and his nephew, Ustad Shahid Parvez Khan has carried this torch into the present day.
Ananda Shankar was a Bengali musician, singer and composer best known for fusing Western and Eastern musical styles. He was married to dancer and choreographer Tanusree Shankar.
Ustad Enayat Khan (1894–1938) also known as Nath Singh was one of India's most influential sitar and surbahar players in the first decades of the 20th Century. He was the father of Vilayat Khan, one of the topmost sitariyas of the postwar period.
Swapan Dasgupta is an Indian journalist and politician. He is influential within the Indian right wing, writing columns for leading English dailies espousing Hindu nationalism. He was a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha the upper house of the Parliament of India from which he resigned to contest the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election with a BJP ticket and lost to AITC candidate Ramendu Sinha.
While the sitar had earlier been used in jazz and Indian film music, it was from the 1960s onwards that various pop artists in the Western world began to experiment with incorporating the sitar, a classical Indian stringed instrument, within their compositions.
Nishat Khan is an Indian sitar player from an illustrious musical family and the foremost sitar virtuoso of his generation. As a composer and music producer he has collaborated with some of the world's leading musicians such as Paco Peña, John McLaughlin, Philip Glass and Evelyn Glennie. His sitar concerto "Gate of the Moon" premiered with the BBC National Orchestra for the Proms at Royal Albert Hall in 2013.
Raga is a 1971 documentary film about the life and music of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, produced and directed by Howard Worth. It includes scenes featuring Western musicians Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison, as well as footage of Shankar returning to Maihar in central India, where as a young man he trained under the mentorship of Allauddin Khan. The film also features a portion of Shankar and tabla player Alla Rakha's acclaimed performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival.
Dasgupta is a common Bengali last name or surname in West Bengal and Bangladesh. The surname is found among the members of the Baidya caste.
Swarathma (Kannada:ಸ್ವರಾತ್ಮ) is a Bangalore (India)-based Indian Folk/fusion band. The current line-up features Vasu Dixit, K J Pavan, Varun Murali, Sanjeev Nayak, Jishnu Dasgupta and Joel Milan Baptist (drums). The band's sound draws from Indian Folk and Classical Music, blending it with Western sounds like Blues Rock and Reggae. Their lyrics are inspired by personal journeys as well as social and political themes.
Focal Point is a 1976 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his tenth to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded during four days in August 1976 and features a septet fronted by three reed players, which were in part multiplied through overdubs. On one track Tyner is heard picking a dulcimer backed by tablas, evoking the sound of an Indian sitar. "Parody" is a duo by McCoy Tyner and Eric Gravatt on drums. The album was digitally mastered at Fantasy Studios in 1999 and re-released on Original Jazz Classics.
Ustad Rais Khan was a Pakistani sitarist. At his peak he was regarded as 'one of the greatest sitar players of all time'. He continued performing till his last days. He moved from India to Pakistan in 1986, where he took up Pakistani citizenship. In 2017, Khan was awarded Pakistan's third highest civilian honour, the Sitara-i-Imtiaz.
Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India was an Indian classical music revue led by sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar intended for Western concert audiences and performed in 1974. Its presentation was the first project undertaken by the Material World Charitable Foundation, set up the previous year by ex-Beatle George Harrison. Long a champion of Indian music, Harrison also produced an eponymous studio album by the Music Festival orchestra, which was released in 1976 on his Dark Horse record label. Both the CD format of the Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India album and a DVD of their performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London were issued for the first time on the 2010 Shankar–Harrison box set Collaborations.
West Meets East is an album by American violinist Yehudi Menuhin and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, released in Britain in January 1967. It was recorded following their successful duet in June 1966 at the Bath Musical Festival, where they had played some of the same material.
Live: Ravi Shankar at the Monterey International Pop Festival is a live album by Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, released on the World Pacific record label in November 1967. It consists of part of Shankar's celebrated performance at the Monterey International Pop Festival in California on 18 June 1967. Shankar was accompanied throughout by his regular tabla player, Alla Rakha, who performs a frenetic five-minute solo on the recording.
