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Elly Roberts reviews
Cherry Red Records
- August 2007
- Rating: 8/10
Raga Jog is arguably the most recognised Indian composition of all time,coming in at a staggering 28 minutes 15 seconds. For its time it was quite anaudacious piece, considering its length. It was recorded by Indian classicalcomposer Pandit Ravi Shankar in 1956, then 36, who is still considered thegreatest Sitar player ever.
Raga literally means mood or colour, and this magnificent and timeless piece ofmusic, in all its various shifts, remains as beguiling as ever. Consideringtheres only three musicians on it Ravi Shankar (sitar), Chatur Lal (tabla),and Pradjot Sen (tamboura) its easy to see why the likes of the Beatles becamefascinated with his music, with George Harrison describing him as the Godfatherof World Music.
He also performed at the Monterey International Pop Festival 67 and Woodstockin 69, which did much to enhance his career. Shankar holds the GuinnessRecord for the longest running international career, spanning eight decades.
The second part of the dsic is devoted to music performed by a group of virtuosoHindu instrumentalists (including a young Ravi) for his brother Uday Shankarsdance company for their memorable cultural visit to the States in 1937. Theseragas and dances (danse) are actually a hybrid of several eastern traditionsthat would eventually go on to inspire many psychadelic musicians.
Technically, Shankar threw out an astonishing catalogue of string bending exemplarslater adopted by rock guitarists. The transcendental quality of sound suddenlymade western musical conventions seem stale and stifling, with its heavy emphasison improvisation, melody and sometimes complex rhythms at the expense ofharmony and counterpoint.
In addition it provided oppportunities for the instrumentalist to extemporiseat length in the blues and jazz methods. Instruments for the 1937 recordingsinclude sitar, madal, flute,tabla, sarod, karatal and many others, so you canimagine the beauty created. Only one these songs has a vocal, Bhajana (areligious song), sung in Hindi by Vishnudass Shirali.
The full list of tracks included are :
1. Raga Jog
2. Raga Tilanga
3. Raga Bahar
4. Danse Gandharva : Raga Malkauns
5. Danse Ramachandra : Ragas Sinhendra, Maddhyama, Hansaddhwani
6. Tabla-Taranga : Raga Adana
7. Danse Kartikeyya : Raga Malkauns
8. Danse Indra : Raga Bhairada
9. Danse Snanum : Ragas Durga, Khamaj
10. Bhajana (Religious Song)
11. Raga Mishra-Kaphi
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.