Asian Music Circle

Last updated

The Asian Music Circle (sometimes abbreviated to AMC) was an organisation founded in London, England, in 1946, that promoted Indian and other Asian styles of music, dance and culture in the West. The AMC is credited with having facilitated the assimilation of the Indian subcontinent's artistic traditions into mainstream British culture. Founded by Indian writer and former political activist Ayana Angadi and his English wife, Patricia Fell-Clarke, a painter and later a novelist, the organisation was run from their family home in the north London suburb of Finchley.

Contents

In the 1950s, with Yehudi Menuhin as its president, the AMC organised the first Western performances by Indian classical musicians Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, as well as Vilayat Khan's debut concerts in Britain. During the following decade, the Angadis introduced George Harrison of the Beatles to Shankar, initiating an association that saw Indian music reach its peak in international popularity over 1966–68. The Music Circle had its own London-based musicians, some of whom played on Harrison's Indian-style compositions for the Beatles, including "Within You Without You" from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band .

The AMC is recognised as having introduced yoga into Britain, through the Angadis' hosting of classes by visiting guru B.K.S. Iyengar. The organisation had ceased operation by 1970, when Ayana and Patricia Angadi separated.

Background and early years

Ayana and Patricia Angadi

Asian Music Circle co-founder Ayana Deva Angadi came to London from Bombay, India, in 1924, [1] to gain the qualifications necessary for a top position in the Indian Civil Service, under what was then British imperial rule. [2] Instead, he embraced Trotskyist political philosophy and became an outspoken critic of British imperialism. During the 1930s and 1940s, Angadi wrote journal articles (often as Raj Hansa) and gave public and school lectures throughout the UK; [3] having joined the Labour Party, he discovered that his views were too extreme for the party's more moderate sensibilities. [2] Angadi's 1942 treatise Japan's Kampf impressed Britain's wartime Ministry of Information, but following the war, the authorities suspected him of being an agent for Soviet Russia's Cominform bureau. [3]

Late in 1939, Angadi met Patricia Fell-Clarke at a social event held at London's Dorchester Hotel. [4] The daughter of a wealthy English industrialist, [1] Patricia had similarly rejected societal norms, finding her identity as a portrait painter. [5] Despite strong objections from her family and peers, [5] [6] the couple were married on Labour Day 1943. [4] Patricia would draw inspiration from this disapproval during her later career as a successful novelist, beginning with 1985's The Governess. [5]

Founding

The Angadis lived on the top floor of the Fell-Clarke family residence, in the north London suburb of Hampstead, before Patricia's inheritance allowed them to purchase their own home, [5] a large house at 116 Fitzalan Road, Finchley. [7] [8] She and her husband founded the Asian Music Circle (AMC) in 1946, [3] with the aim of promoting Asian arts and culture in Britain. [5] With the Fitzalan Road property as their headquarters, [9] [10] the couple went on to organise music recitals, dance performances and cultural lectures throughout the West. [11]

Visiting performers often stayed with the family, which had grown to include four children by 1949. [5] The third of these was Darien Angadi, [12] later a choral soloist [13] and an actor in Shakespearean productions by Trevor Nunn, Jonathan Miller and Herbert Wise. [14] In his book Azaadi!: Stories and Histories of the Indian Subcontinent After Independence, author and journalist Reginald Massey writes that all the Angadi children were "brilliant and beautiful", with the youngest, Chandrika (or Clare), becoming the first Asian model to appear in Vogue magazine. [15]

1950s

Yehudi Menuhin

AMC president Yehudi Menuhin (pictured in 1943) Yehudi Menuhin 43.jpg
AMC president Yehudi Menuhin (pictured in 1943)

The Asian Music Circle's activities increased during the 1950s, such that some sources give 1953 [16] or the mid-decade period as the date of its founding. [6] [17] Patricia was appointed chairperson of the Hampstead Artists Council in 1953, and among her portrait subjects were Labour MP Fenner Brockway and the American classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin. [5] Another notable connection was Benjamin Britten, the English classical composer, who served as the AMC's vice-president. [6] That same year, the AMC announced that its mission was to "[foster] the appreciation and study of the Music and Dances of all Asian countries, thereby creating greater understanding of Asian peoples and cultures". [18]

English composer Benjamin Britten in 1968 Benjamin Britten, London Records 1968 publicity photo for Wikipedia crop.jpg
English composer Benjamin Britten in 1968

Also in 1953, Menuhin became the Music Circle's president, having made a visit to India, early the previous year, that had inspired him to enlighten Western listeners to the country's musical and cultural heritage. [19] [20] In his 2006 book The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, author Peter Lavezzoli writes of the violinist's role in the AMC: "Menuhin was the ideal candidate for its leadership. In light of his relentless work schedule, he set about achieving his aim with remarkable speed." [11] Britten also made a tour of India, in 1956, [21] and began incorporating Indian and other Asian influences in his composing. [22] In June 1958, the AMC presented an Indian music and dance program as a part of the Aldeburgh Festival, [21] an annual event co-founded by Britten in the late 1940s. [23]

Following Menuhin's second Indian tour, in 1954, he invited yoga teacher B.K.S. Iyengar to Europe. [24] According to Massey, the popularity of yoga in the UK originates from the day that the Angadis hosted a demonstration by Iyengar at their north London home, attended by some of their friends. [25] Massey also credits the Asian Music Circle, and specifically Ayana Angadi, with "making the arts of the subcontinent a part of British cultural life". [26] The Open University's Making Britain project has similarly written of the AMC's achievements: "This organization introduced Indian music, dance and yoga to the British public, paving the way for musicians such as Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan." [3]

First Western performances by Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar

In 1955, through his role as AMC president, Menuhin gained funding from the Ford Foundation and John D. Rockefeller's Asia Society to stage the Living Arts of India Festival, in New York. [27] His original choice for the festival's featured musical performer was Ravi Shankar, after Menuhin had attended a private concert by the sitar virtuoso while in Delhi, in February 1952. [28] Shankar was forced to turn down the opportunity, in an effort to save his failing marriage to Annapurna Devi, and instead recommended his brother-in-law, master sarod player Ali Akbar Khan. [29] [30]

Ravi Shankar, pictured in Bombay during the recording of his score for the 1955 film Pather Panchali Ravi Shankar recording for Pather Panchali.jpg
Ravi Shankar, pictured in Bombay during the recording of his score for the 1955 film Pather Panchali

The Living Arts festival, held in April 1955, marked both the first formal recital of Indian classical music in America, when Khan played at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), [31] and the first appearance on US television by Indian classical artists, after Khan and his accompanists, as well as Bharat Natyam dancer Shanta Rao, performed on the arts and sciences show Omnibus . [32] While in New York, Khan recorded Music of India: Morning and Evening Ragas (1955), the debut album release for Indian classical music. [32] [33] In addition to concerts at the MoMA – Khan's first outside India – Menuhin and the Asian Music Circle arranged other recitals for what amounted to a short US tour. [34]

Menuhin subsequently organised for Khan to play in London later that year, at St Pancras Town Hall. [31] The AMC then brought Ravi Shankar to Britain, [25] where the sitarist made his Western concert debut in October 1956 with a performance at London's Friends House. [35] After Shankar's 1956 visit, arrangements for his annual UK concert tours were shared between the Music Circle and promoter John Coast. [36] The AMC also brought sitarist Vilayat Khan to the UK for the first time, [25] [37] a musician considered to be the era's leading exponent of sitar, together with Shankar. [38] [39]

AMC's local music network

The Music Circle maintained a list of London-based Indian musicians, who were available to visiting Indian artists, as backing players. In addition, these musicians performed locally themselves, as a group, and the Angadis offered their services for film and recording work. [6] One such musician was Keshav Sathe, a tabla player from Bombay who was with the AMC over 1957–59 before going on to accompany sitarist Bhaskar Chandavarkar, [40] a student of Shankar's. [41]

1960s

Iyengar Yoga, South Asian dance, and the growth in Indian cultural influence

Bharat Natyam, a traditional dance form, was one of several aspects of Asian culture that the Music Circle helped to assimilate into Britain. Bharata Natyam Performance DS.jpg
Bharat Natyam, a traditional dance form, was one of several aspects of Asian culture that the Music Circle helped to assimilate into Britain.

On one of B.K.S. Iyengar's visits to London in the early 1960s, he began holding instruction classes at the Fitzalan Road house, with future author and yoga practitioner Silva Mehta in attendance. [42] The date for when these evening classes continued in Iyengar's absence, 18 July 1961, has been cited as the birth of Iyengar Yoga. [42]

Among activities by the Angadis' pool of local musicians, George Martin, a staff producer with EMI-owned Parlophone Records, employed members of the AMC on a recording by comedian Peter Sellers in the early 1960s. [17] [43] EMI continued to use Ayana Angadi as a consultant of sorts on matters relating to Indian music. [44]

In 1962, Martin began working with a new Parlophone signing, the Beatles, [45] whose second feature film, Help! (1965), reflected the West's increased interest in Indian culture. [46] [47] [48] While discussing the extent of this influence by the middle of that decade, author Ray Newman quotes from the book The New London Spy by Hunter Davies, [49] who wrote: "Indian restaurants, Indian food, Indian shops, Indian cinemas, Indian concerts, Indian plays, yoga, gurus and contemplation are now all so much part of the London scene that when a grey Bentley drew into a Swiss Cottage petrol station recently and a 6 ft. 6 in. Sikh stepped out wearing a purple turban, green raw silk coat, white jodhpurs, gold slippers and an oriental dagger with a gem-studded hilt, the Irish attendant did not bother to take more than a passing glance." [50]

South Asian dance also achieved lasting popularity and influence in the UK for the first time. British audiences had been introduced to the discipline by Uday Shankar's troupe during the 1920s, but South Asian dancers had struggled for recognition over the ensuing decades. [51] According to cultural historian Naseem Khan, a "new story" began in 1966 when the Asian Music Circle presented the country's first formal Indian dances classes. [52] The enduring success of these classes rested on the Angadis' decision to bring over, from South India, two instructors who had studied Bharat Natyam in the authentic guru–kula tradition. The instructors – a married couple named Krishna Rao and Chandrabhaga Devi – went on to form a dance company with their students and tour throughout Britain, Ireland and Belgium. [52]

Association with the Beatles

George Harrison at a Beatles press conference in 1964 The Beatles arrive at Schiphol Airport 1964-06-05 - George Harrison 916-5132 cropped.jpg
George Harrison at a Beatles press conference in 1964

In October 1965, Martin was producing a session for the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood", [53] which featured George Harrison playing sitar, an instrument that the guitarist had never before used on a recording. [54] When Harrison broke a string during the session, Martin suggested that the band contact Angadi to get a replacement. [55] Ringo Starr then telephoned the Fitzalan Road house and made the request. [10] [56] According to the Angadis' eldest son, [15] Shankara, the whole family delivered the new string to EMI's Abbey Road Studios and watched the recording being made. [56]

Keen to progress on the instrument, Harrison received tuition from one of the Music Circle's sitar players. [17] [57] Harrison then became a regular visitor to Fitzalan Road, [7] attending recitals held there with his wife, Pattie Boyd. [5] [58] Harrison and Boyd also had their portrait painted by Patricia during this time. [5] The proximity to the Angadis and their network furthered Harrison's interest in Indian music and culture, which he immediately absorbed into the Beatles' work. [59]

When recording his first Indian-styled composition for the Beatles, "Love You To", in April 1966, [60] Harrison used a tabla player, Anil Bhagwat, at the recommendation of Patricia Angadi. [61] Other AMC musicians appeared on the recording, playing tambura and sitar. [62] Bhagwat, who was funding his university education through his musical activities, received £35 for the session [63] and later described it as "one of the most exciting times of my life". [64] In the pop milieu, the song marked the first example of an artist capturing a non-Western musical form authentically, in its structure and arrangement, [65] and of Asian music being adapted without parody. [66] Bhagwat received a credit on the band's Revolver album sleeve, a rare acknowledgement for an outside musician on a Beatles release. [67] [68]

Shankar and George Harrison

While also crediting the AMC with introducing Shankar, Ali Akbar Khan and other leading Indian classical musicians to British audiences, Massey writes of Ayana Angadi having a "seminal" influence on Western culture, due to his role in introducing George Harrison to Ravi Shankar. [25] The meeting occurred on 1 June 1966 [69] when the Angadi family hosted a dinner to honour Shankar, who was in the UK for a series of performances that would include his historic duet with Menuhin at the Bath Musical Festival. [70] Although not invited, Paul McCartney also attended the dinner, [71] since he was eager to meet the sitarist. [72] Shankar agreed to accept Harrison as his sitar student, so beginning an association that, music critic Ken Hunt writes, "brought Indian music real global attention". [73]

Harrison's friendship with the sitarist – already the best-known Indian classical musician internationally – increased Shankar's standing to that of a rock star [74] and initiated Indian music's peak in popularity in the West, during the second half of the 1960s. [75] The meeting at Fitzalan Road is covered in Ajoy Bose's 2021 documentary The Beatles and India , in which Shankara Angadi describes McCartney as seeming out of his depth, but not Harrison, who Boyd says must have known Shankar "in a past life". [76] In his review of the film for Uncut , Pete Paphides terms this initial meeting at the AMC a "momentous encounter", given the cultural impact of the Beatles' association with India. [76]

The Asian Music Circle's cause also profited from Harrison's involvement and the heightened interest in Indian culture during this period. [77] His visits to Fitzalan Road ended in late 1966, however. Speaking to Newman, Shankara recalled: "My father was a difficult character, in some ways. He was chaotic, and never really pulled anything off he set out to do. He probably asked George for money, and that was the end of that relationship." [78]

Further Indian music recordings by Harrison

In March 1967, Harrison again consulted the Music Circle to find suitable musicians for one of his recordings. [79] The song, "Within You Without You", features AMC members on instruments such as dilruba and tabla, [80] and appeared on the Beatles' seminal album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band . [81] Aside from the Western string orchestration arranged and overdubbed by Martin, [82] and Beatles assistant Neil Aspinall playing one of the tambura parts, [83] Harrison and the Indian players were the only musicians on the track. [79] [84] None of the Music Circle personnel were credited by name, [83] a situation that Lavezzoli finds regrettable, given the quality of the tabla and dilruba playing. [79] Research undertaken by the University of Liverpool's Department of Music has since identified the four musicians as Anna Joshi, Amrit Gajjar (both dilruba), Buddhadev Kansara (tambura) and Natwar Soni (tabla). [85] [86]

Talking to Hunter Davies, Harrison bemoaned how, although the AMC's musicians played "much better than any Western musicians could do", [87] the fact that they had daytime jobs and only played music part-time was reflected in their abilities in some cases. [72] Harrison's next recordings in the genre were for the soundtrack to Joe Massot's film Wonderwall , part of which was issued as his first solo album, Wonderwall Music (1968). [88] Harrison started the sessions in November 1967, again at Abbey Road, with an unnamed tabla player among the line-up of contributors. [89] Looking for greater authenticity, he then travelled to Bombay in January 1968 [90] and recorded at HMV Studios with musicians including Shivkumar Sharma, Aashish Khan and Hariprasad Chaurasia. [91]

Disbandment

By 1970 the Asian Music Circle had ceased operating, as the Angadis separated. That year, Angadi returned to India, and Patricia moved to a house in Hampstead's Flask Walk. [92]

In December 1992, George Harrison became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award, [93] partly through the former Beatle's "critical role in laying the groundwork for the modern concept of world music" with his Indian-influenced songs, and for his having "advanced society's comprehension of the spiritual and altruistic power of popular music". [94] In an interview coinciding with the award, Harrison said the AMC's work had continued through the larger and more professionally organised Asian Music Circuit. [95]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravi Shankar</span> Indian musician and sitar player (1920–2012)

Ravi Shankar, was an Indian sitarist and composer. A sitar virtuoso, he became the world's best-known expert of North Indian classical music in the second half of the 20th century, and influenced many musicians in India and throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Love You To</span> 1966 song by the Beatles

"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.

<i>Raga</i> (film) 1971 American film

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.

John Barham is an English classical pianist, composer, arranger, producer and educator. He is best known for his orchestration of George Harrison albums such as All Things Must Pass (1970) and for his association with Indian sitar maestro Ravi Shankar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India</span>

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.

<i>In Concert 1972</i> 1973 live album by Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan

In Concert 1972 is a double live album by sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and sarodiya Ali Akbar Khan, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It was recorded at the Philharmonic Hall, New York City, in October 1972, and is a noted example of the two Hindustani classical musicians' celebrated jugalbandi (duet) style of playing. With accompaniment from tabla player Alla Rakha, the performance reflects the two artists' sorrow at the recent death of their revered guru, and Khan's father, Allauddin Khan. The latter was responsible for many innovations in Indian music during the twentieth century, including the call-and-response dialogue that musicians such as Shankar, Khan and Rakha popularised among Western audiences in the 1960s.

The Material World Charitable Foundation, also known as the Material World Foundation (MWF), is a charitable organisation founded by English musician George Harrison in April 1973. Its launch coincided with the release of Harrison's album Living in the Material World and came about in reaction to the taxation issues that had hindered his 1971–72 aid project for refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. Harrison assigned his publishing royalties from nine of the eleven songs on Living in the Material World, including the hit single "Give Me Love ", to the foundation, in perpetuity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I Am Missing You</span>

"I Am Missing You" is a song by Indian musician Ravi Shankar, sung by his sister-in-law Lakshmi Shankar and released as the lead single from his 1974 album Shankar Family & Friends. The song is a rare Shankar composition in the Western pop genre, with English lyrics, and was written as a love song to the Hindu god Krishna. The recording was produced and arranged by George Harrison, in a style similar to Phil Spector's signature sound, and it was the first single issued on Harrison's Dark Horse record label. Other contributing musicians include Tom Scott, Nicky Hopkins, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner. A second version appears on Shankar Family & Friends, titled "I Am Missing You (Reprise)", featuring an arrangement closer to a folk ballad.

<i>Chants of India</i> 1997 studio album by Ravi Shankar

Chants of India is an album by Indian musician Ravi Shankar released in 1997 on Angel Records. Produced by his friend and sometime collaborator George Harrison, the album consists of Vedic and other Hindu sacred prayers set to music, marking a departure from Shankar's more familiar work in the field of Hindustani classical music. The lyrical themes of the recorded chants are peace and harmony among nature and all creatures. Sessions for the album took place in the Indian city of Madras and at Harrison's home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, following his work on The Beatles' Anthology (1995). Anoushka Shankar, John Barham, Bikram Ghosh, Tarun Bhatacharaya and Ronu Majumdar are among the many musicians who contributed to the recording.

<i>Joi Bangla</i> 1971 EP by Ravi Shankar

Joi Bangla is an EP by Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, issued in August 1971 on Apple Records. The recording was produced by George Harrison and its release marked the first in a series of occasional collaborations between the two musicians that lasted until the Chants of India album in 1997. Shankar recorded the EP in Los Angeles, to help raise international awareness of the plight faced by refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War, in advance of his and Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh shows at Madison Square Garden, New York. Side one of the disc consists of two vocal compositions sung in Bengali, of which the title track was a message of unity to the newly independent nation, formerly known as East Pakistan. The third selection is a duet by Shankar and sarodya Ali Akbar Khan, supported by Alla Rakha on tabla, a performance that presaged their opening set at the Concert for Bangladesh.

<i>West Meets East</i> 1967 studio album by Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar

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.

<i>Music of India: Morning and Evening Ragas</i> 1955 studio album by Ali Akbar Khan

Music of India: Morning and Evening Ragas is the debut album by Indian sarod master Ali Akbar Khan, released in 1955. Issued on Angel Records, it is considered a landmark recording, being the first album of Indian classical music ever released.

<i>West Meets East, Volume 2</i> 1968 studio album by Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar

West Meets East, Volume 2 is an album by American violinist Yehudi Menuhin and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, released in 1968. It is the second album in a trilogy of collaborations between the two artists, after the Grammy Award-winning West Meets East (1967).

Kamala Chakravarty is an Indian classical musician and former dancer, known for her association with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. From 1967 until the late 1970s, she accompanied Shankar, in the role of tambura player and singer, in a number of acclaimed performances, including the Monterey International Pop Festival (1967), his Human Rights Day duet with violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1967), the Concert for Bangladesh (1971) and the Music Festival from India (1974). She lived with Shankar as his "wife" from 1967 to 1981, while he was still married to musician and teacher Annapurna Devi.

<i>Tana Mana</i> 1987 studio album by Ravi Shankar

Tana Mana is an album by Indian musician Ravi Shankar, originally credited to "the Ravi Shankar Project" and released in 1987. The album is an experimental work by Shankar, mixing traditional instrumentation with 1980s electronic music and sampling technology. Shankar recorded much of Tana Mana in 1983 with sound effects innovator Frank Serafine, but it remained unreleased until Peter Baumann, head of new age record label Private Music, became attached to the project. The album title translates to mean "body and mind".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Harrison and Ravi Shankar's 1974 North American tour</span> 1974 concert tour by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar

George Harrison and Ravi Shankar's 1974 North American tour was a 45-show concert tour of the United States and Canada, undertaken by English musician George Harrison and Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar in November and December 1974. It is often referred to as the Dark Horse Tour, since the concerts served as a launch for Harrison's record label Dark Horse Records, to which Shankar was one of the inaugural signings, and Harrison's concurrent single was the song "Dark Horse". The release of his delayed album, also titled Dark Horse, followed towards the end of the tour. The shows featured guest spots by Harrison's band members Billy Preston and Tom Scott.

<i>Ravi Shankar: In Celebration</i> 1996 compilation album by Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar: In Celebration is a compilation box set by Indian classical musician and composer Ravi Shankar, released in 1996 on Angel Records in conjunction with Dark Horse Records. The four discs cover Shankar's international career, from the 1950s to the mid 1990s, and include recordings originally released on the World Pacific, HMV, Angel, Apple, Dark Horse and Private Music record labels. Shankar's friend George Harrison compiled and co-produced the set, which was issued as part of year-long celebrations for Shankar's 75th birthday.

<i>Collaborations</i> (Ravi Shankar and George Harrison album) 2010 box set by Ravi Shankar & George Harrison

Collaborations is a four-disc compilation box set by Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar and former Beatle George Harrison. Released in October 2010 on Dark Horse Records, it compiles two studio albums originally issued on that label – the long-unavailable Shankar Family & Friends (1974) and Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India (1976) – and Chants of India, first issued on Angel Records in 1997. Although all three albums were originally Shankar releases, for which Harrison served in the role of music producer and guest musician, both Shankar and Harrison are credited as artists on the box set. Each of the collaborative projects represents a departure from Shankar's more typical work as a sitarist and performer of Hindustani classical ragas, with the box set showcasing his forays into, variously, jazz and rock, Indian folk and orchestral ensembles, and devotional music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinnara School of Music</span> Music school in Maharastra

The Kinnara School of Music was a music school founded in Bombay, India, in 1962 by Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar. With his increased popularity and influence in the West, he opened a second branch of the school in Los Angeles in May 1967. Shankar's concept for Kinnara was to further the strict guru–shishya tradition of musical education that he had experienced under his teacher, Allauddin Khan, in the 1940s. The Bombay centre staged productions of orchestral works by Shankar, including Nava Rasa Ranga.

Patricia Clare Angadi was a British portrait painter and novelist, perhaps best remembered for introducing the Beatles to Ravi Shankar.

References

  1. 1 2 Visram, p. 290.
  2. 1 2 Massey, p. 57.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Ayana Deva Angadi", Making Britain, Open University (archived version retrieved 23 September 2014).
  4. 1 2 Massey, pp. 58–59.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Sarah Harrison, "Patricia Angadi: Painter and novelist who introduced the Beatles to Ravi Shankar", The Guardian , 17 July 2001 (retrieved 9 December 2016).
  6. 1 2 3 4 Newman, p. 24.
  7. 1 2 Newman, p. 25.
  8. ↑ Turner, p. 83.
  9. ↑ Newman, p. 23, 24–25.
  10. 1 2 Turner, p. 82.
  11. 1 2 Lavezzoli, p. 57.
  12. ↑ Massey, pp. 60–61.
  13. ↑ Brian Barratt, "The Scrivener: Getting Into Shakespeare", Open Writing, 23 October 2009 (retrieved 23 September 2014).
  14. ↑ "Shakespeare in Performance: Darien Angadi" Archived 2014-08-15 at the Wayback Machine , Internet Shakespeare Editions, 30 August 2014 (retrieved 23 September 2014).
  15. 1 2 Massey, p. 60.
  16. ↑ Shankar, Raga Mala, p. 156.
  17. 1 2 3 Rodriguez, p. 114.
  18. ↑ Womack, p. 584.
  19. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 57, 60.
  20. ↑ Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 135, 138, 156.
  21. 1 2 Cooke, p. 214.
  22. ↑ Carpenter, pp. 434–35, 478.
  23. ↑ Carpenter, p. 19.
  24. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 57–58.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Massey, p. 58.
  26. ↑ Massey, p. 10.
  27. ↑ Lavezzoli, p. 58.
  28. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 46–47, 58.
  29. ↑ Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 138, 139.
  30. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 52, 58.
  31. 1 2 Ken Hunt, "Ustad Ali Akbar Khan: Sarod maestro who played with Ravi Shankar and appeared at the Concert for Bangladesh", The Independent , 25 June 2009 (retrieved 8 December 2013).
  32. 1 2 Lavezzoli, p. 59.
  33. ↑ World Music: The Rough Guide, p. 109.
  34. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 58, 60, 61, 176.
  35. ↑ Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 139, 142.
  36. ↑ Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 155–56.
  37. ↑ Turner, p. 84.
  38. ↑ World Music: The Rough Guide, p. 77.
  39. ↑ Gowri Ramnarayan, "No Compromises in His Art", The Hindu , 28 March 2004 (retrieved 24 September 2014).
  40. ↑ Carr, Fairweather & Priestley, p. 698.
  41. ↑ Harsh Kabra, "Master Musician", The Hindu , 15 July 2007 (retrieved 23 September 2014).
  42. 1 2 Iyengar, p. xvi.
  43. ↑ Newman, pp. 22–23.
  44. ↑ Newman, p. 22.
  45. ↑ Tillery, pp. 26–27.
  46. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 173–74.
  47. ↑ Palash Ghosh, "George Harrison and India: The Real 'Magical Mystery Tour'", International Business Times , 17 November 2011 (retrieved 24 September 2014).
  48. ↑ Inglis, p. 136.
  49. ↑ Newman, p. 11.
  50. ↑ Davies, p. 249.
  51. ↑ Khan, pp. 25–26.
  52. 1 2 Khan, p. 26.
  53. ↑ MacDonald, p. 144.
  54. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 173, 174.
  55. ↑ Newman, pp. 22, 23.
  56. 1 2 Newman, p. 23.
  57. ↑ Newman, pp. 23, 25.
  58. ↑ Tillery, p. 55.
  59. ↑ Turner, pp. 84–85, 228.
  60. ↑ Miles, p. 229.
  61. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 175–76.
  62. ↑ MacDonald, p. 172.
  63. ↑ Turner, p. 229.
  64. ↑ Lavezzoli, p. 176.
  65. ↑ Lavezzoli, p. 175.
  66. ↑ David B. Reck, "Beatles Orientalis: Influences from Asia in a Popular Song Form", Asian Music (vol. XVI), 1985, p. 102.
  67. ↑ Rodriguez, pp. 115, 138.
  68. ↑ Turner, p. 231.
  69. ↑ Tillery, p. 160.
  70. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 62, 176.
  71. ↑ Shankar, My Music, My Life, p. 100.
  72. 1 2 Newman, p. 26.
  73. ↑ World Music: The Rough Guide, pp. 109, 110.
  74. ↑ Philip Glass, "George Harrison, World-Music Catalyst and Great-Souled Man; Open to the Influence of Unfamiliar Cultures", The New York Times , 9 December 2001 (retrieved 24 September 2014).
  75. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 171–72, 172–73.
  76. 1 2 Pete Paphides, "The Beatles and India: The Maharishi, Magic Alex and some myths unravelled", Uncut , 8 October 2021 (retrieved 27 October 2021).
  77. ↑ Newman, p. 31.
  78. ↑ Newman, pp. 31–32.
  79. 1 2 3 Lavezzoli, p. 178.
  80. ↑ MacDonald, pp. 214, 215.
  81. ↑ Tillery, pp. 59, 160.
  82. ↑ Tillery, p. 59.
  83. 1 2 MacDonald, p. 215.
  84. ↑ Inglis, p. 8.
  85. ↑ "Unrecognised Sgt. Pepper Indian musicians to perform after being tracked down by Liverpool academic", University of Liverpool, 6 June 2017 (retrieved 12 June 2017).
  86. ↑ Staff reporter, "Forgotten Indians in Beatles album tracked", The Telegraph (Calcutta), 9 June 2017 (retrieved 14 June 2017).
  87. ↑ Jordan Runtagh, "Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' at 50: How George Harrison Found Himself on 'Within You Without You'", rollingstone.com, 25 May 2017 (retrieved 3 June 2017).
  88. ↑ Lavezzoli, p. 182.
  89. ↑ Miles, p. 283.
  90. ↑ Alan Clayson, "Off the Wall", in Mojo Special Limited Edition: The Beatles' Final Years Special Edition: 1000 Days of Revolution (The Beatles' Final Years – Jan 1, 1968 to Sept 27, 1970), Emap (London, 2003), p. 50.
  91. ↑ Lavezzoli, pp. 182–83.
  92. ↑ Reginald Massey, "Angadi, Patricia Clare (1914–2001), novelist and painter", oxforddnb.com (retrieved 23 November 2017; subscription required).
  93. ↑ "Billboard Century Awards – Music Artists Biography – Music Artist Interviews", billboard.com, 14 February 2006 (archived version retrieved 2 April 2021).
  94. ↑ Timothy White, "George Harrison, First Recipient of the Century Award", Billboard , 5 December 1992, p. 21.
  95. ↑ Kahn, p. 504.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.