We talked in class about Ravi Shankar and George Harrison of The Beatles. Being a guitar player and fan of Eric Clapton, The Beatles, George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix, The Allman Brothers Band, and the dynamic of all of those musicians from that era, and how they relate, I knew that I wanted to do my song share on something regarding Ravi and George’s relationship. I was fortunate to find a live recording that was very much a fusion piece from the 1974 album “Shankar Family and Friends.” This specific piece was called “Dispute and Violence”, and I immediately fell in love with all that was happening in the song.
There is much of the piece that is indicative of South Asian music. Specifically, Shankar’s style of Hindustani, North Indian classical music! The piece began with several soloists that were droning in on an array of instruments. In the piece there are several examples of instruments of the Hindustani tradition such as the sitar, tabla, mridangam, vichitra veena, sarangi, the North Indian violin, santoor, and of course, some of the chanting that takes place before the big “jam” begins. What I loved about this was how it fused together South Asian and popular Western music and instruments. It begins with an almost Raga-like meditation flow, it seems as though it is a traditional Hindustani song, then when the voices build in on top of one another it bursts into a jam that is emblematic of The Allman Brothers, Grateful Dead, Cream, or other jam bands of the day. The way that the Hindustani instruments blend with the electric guitar, horns, organ, drums, flutes, etc. was actually quite surprising to me. I was not anticipating music from these styles to be able to blend together so seamlessly, or be as enjoyable as it was. The rhythms used, the improvisation that is present, and the featuring of soloists is characteristic and blending of both Hindustani and Western music.
After the initial Raga-like section, it becomes a very rhythmic jam that is characteristic of the Hindustani tradition as well as Western music. The wide array of voices throughout the various instruments, and actual voices creates an extremely unique timbre that is not common, nor widely replicated. According to Harrison and Shankar, the album was made to fuse elements of Hindustani traditional music, jazz, funk, and rock. It is clear to me in listening to this that all of those elements are present and something that makes it relatable to a variety of audiences.
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