Tenth Decade – In Concert: Live In Escondido (East Meets West Music, 2012)
Tenth Decade – In Concert: Live In Escondido is a video with a fascinating live performance by sitar maestro Ravi Shankar recorded about a year ago, in October 2011. Shankar looked a little different as he had grown a beard.
The concert clearly demonstrates that Shankar was still a masterful instrumentalist, who still brought passion and innovation to Indian classical music. He was joined by a set of accomplished instrumentalists, including Tanmoy Bose on tabla; Ravichandra Kulur on bansuri flute and kanjira; Parimal Sadaphal on sitar; Samir Chatterjee on tabla; Kenji Ota on tanpura, swarmandal; and Barry Phillips on tanpura.
The program on the DVD includes four pieces. The first two are evening ragas, ‘Yaman Kalyan’ and ‘Khamaj.’ They are followed by a percussion segment in which Samir Chatterjee plays an unconventional tabla set composed of 5 drums (tabla is usually a 2 drum set).
On ‘Goonga Sitar,’ Ravi Shankar uses an innovative percussive sitar technique, which he described to the audience. The DVD concludes with ‘Ragamala,’ which is a medley of various ragas, Indian folk tunes and improvisation.
The excellent quality video shows the musicians from various camera angles with Shankar as the central focus. It was made by cinematographer and director Alan Kozlowski. The concert took place in Escondido, a city north of San Diego, in southern California.
Tenth Decade – In Concert: Live In Escondido is a memorable audiovisual document of Ravi Shankar, showcasing his talent, kindness and music innovation, giving the relevance and respect that he deserved.
Buy Tenth Decade – In Concert: Live In Escondido
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.
