Ravi's Return
Ravi Shankar was delighted to be playing Carnegie Hall last Saturday night. But at age 87, having suffered from both double pneumonia and a shoulder injury during the past year, he's undoubtedly quite happy, as the old joke has it, to be playing anywhere. Shankar was joined by his daughter, Anoushka, the 26-year-old sitarist (and half-sister of Norah Jones) who has been performing alongside her father at venues such as this for more than a decade. Ravi Shankar introduced the sitar and Indian classical music to Western audiences during the late sixties through his association with Beatle George Harrison, whom he taught for a while, and appearances such as this thrilling moment from the 1967 Monterey Pop festival.
Anoushka has been making her own crossover appeal recently via electronic music (as on "Breathing Under Water," a collaboration with Karsh Kale), but made no appeal for Western approval on Saturday, where she performed an hour-long raga with Tanmoy Bose on tabla and Ravichandra Kulur on flute. Raviji appeared frail as he walked out for the second half of the evening but broke into a big smile as soon as he began performing his own evening raga, Jogeshwari. Although it's no secret that his virtuosity has been diminished by age, Raviji's more somber sitar tones contrasted notably with the brighter, sharper riffs played by Anoushka, who sat at his feet. Raviji followed his formal raga with a ragmala, or string of melodies, that's basically a genial jam session. Even legends need to cut loose.
Ravi and Anoushka Shankar's tour continues tomorrow night in Germantown, Tenn.