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An interview with a master

Reviewing the classics, Shankar-style

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Ravi Shankar is passing his music on to his daughter Anoushka, right  

In this story:

Global influences, traditional sound

Passing the torch


(CNN) -- To understand Indian classical music today, you have to go back in the past.

Two-thousand years ago, Vedic hymns resonated through Hindu temples, their distinctive, high-pitched sounds echoing from stone to stone. According to Hindu belief, the hymns, mystic and haunting, led the way to self-realization - to the place where the true meaning of the universe would be revealed.

Those sounds are the roots of what is widely known as Indian classical music. Unlike Western classical music, which is based on harmony, chords and modulation, the Indian version is composed mostly of rhythm and melody. It's taught orally, passed down from a mentor to a student, a guru to a disciple.

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WorldBeat talks with some of India's classical musicians (May 3)

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No one, perhaps, illustrates this learning chain better than one of India's most celebrated musicians and composers, Ravi Shankar.

The 81-year-old Shankar studied for years under guru Baba Allaudin Khan before winning recognition on his own for his music composition and mastery of the sitar, a lute with a long neck and a varying number of strings.

He regularly works with musicians all over the world, including composer Phillip Glass and ex-Beatle George Harrison.

Shankar, who played at Woodstock in 1969, is so globally recognized today that India considers him a cultural ambassador.

Global influences, traditional sound

Shankar was educated at an early age in Europe and America; the essence of Western classical music, country music and jazz lives in his music. Though Shankar enjoyed success in the West, he felt the pull of the East. His interest in traditional Indian classical music brought him back to his homeland where he dedicated himself to a guru and learned the intricacies of his native music.

"Those were very hard days," he said. "I had to transform my attitude to our traditions which are so (linked) with our religion and our way of life -- strict discipline and controlling ourselves."

Passing the torch

Once the student, Shankar is now the master. He is currently busy playing guru to his 19-year-old daughter, Anoushka.

The father-daughter duo remind him in some ways of his own musical relationship with his guru, Baba Allaudin Khan, Shankar says.

"I went to assist him as his disciple and I used to see this great expression of happiness and satisfaction when I exactly imitated him." When his daughter performs similarly, he says, Shankar feels a smile on his face, too. "It is learning on the stage," he adds.

World Beat sat down with Shankar to discuss his work and the changes he's witnessed in Indian classical music as the genre becomes more globally accepted.

World Beat: Have you seen many changes to Indian classical music over the years?

Shankar: Everybody is trying new things. Everybody is trying new songs, trying to make records and sell records, so naturally there are a lot of gimmicks in spite of a lot of fantastic talent. I never criticize all those things because I feel one has the right to experiment and do anything.

World Beat: You believe in destiny. At what point in your life did you know you were here to become a musical leader?

Shankar: I thought maybe, in my subconscious mind, É but I never really imagined I would really become ( a leader). I have gone through lots of ups and downs in my life, and for whatever little I have achieved, I really feel grateful to God.

World Beat: How rewarding has your 30-year friendship with George Harrison been?

Shankar: George has been very special. George É is like my son and friend all combined together -- and student as well. We still have the same relationship. I love him very much and he is truly interested in Indian music and Indian philosophy and he has a wonderful soul, I think.

World Beat: What is it like for you to take your wealth of experience and pass it on to Anoushka? Is it just like the master/disciple relationship you had with your guru?

Shankar: What I went through was very old-style -- a total surrendering, no-questions-asked (environment), and I had to abide by what the guru said. The relationship was so wonderful. It was like a father and a son. At the same time, he was one of the strictest people, with the most wild temper. You can imagine me having been spoiled in the West, being free É but I was so bent upon wanting to acquire the knowledge that I went through it and loved it. So when I am teaching my daughter É it has not been the same thing because I understand the world has changed.



RELATED SITES:
Official Ravi Shankar Web Site
Asha Bhosle -- The Enchantress
Indian Classical Music

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