The ideal classical performance of raga includes a long alap, or slow improvisation in free rhythm, during which the artist leads himself and his listeners further and further into the spiritual mood he is creating. The final selection presents Ravi Shankar in the intimate and introspective mood which Indian music express to perfection. On this piece, the improvisation begins immediately around a gat in medium Teental of 16 beats, and builds to a second gat in Teental, this time in dhruta laya, or fast tempo. ravi Shankar introduced many Carnatic Ragas into his own Hindustani system, particularly for instrumental music. They have different set of ragas and the same ragas and talas with different names. Although fundamentally, there is a lot of similarity, they differ in presentation. The gulf between the Hindustani system of the North and Carnatic system of the South started around the 12th century. ![]() The raga Kirunvani belongs to the Carnatic system of South India. The piece was recorded at the time of the great fires which devastated large areas of Los Angeles in the fall of 1961, and reflects the emotion and excitement of the holocaust. The Indian instruments used are all percussive-tabla, djolak, damaru and manjira. Although he does not perform himself, Ravi composed and conducted the tune that forms a springboard for the improvisation, using an Indian pentatonic raga, Dhani, which strikes him as a characteristic one for jazz. As an experiment in combining jazz with Indian melodic and rhythmic modes, it comes of surprisingly well, and may well open a new road for the future at a time when many composers and jazz musicians seem to have less interest in harmony than in new conceptions of melody and rhythm. In this exciting musical first, we find the lively Ravi Shankar branching out in a new direction. For this performance, instead of the bamboo flute Bud Shank plays in Indian style, with notable success, on his western instrument. In between the theme is heard on the flute, as it was so appropriately in the films. ![]() Taking the poignant theme which he composed in the style of certain Bengali pastoral songs, and which runs through the three pictures as a kind of leitmotiv, Shankar here improvises upon it in three rhythmic modes, of 7, 6, and 8 beats respectively. He is probably best known for the score to the moving trilogy Pather Panchali, Aparajito, and The World of Apu, directed by Satyajit Ray. Ravi Shankar's wide-ranging musical interests have led him into the field of music for films, in Canada and Europe as well as in India.
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