Saturday, January 19, 2013

Ravi Shankar Birthday Tribute

TODAY, April 7th, is the birthday of our legendary guru the late
Pandit Ravi Shankar (1920-2012).

As Gandhi was for us in the high ground of the moral universe and Tagore was in the realms of exquisite poetic imagery and song, Ravi Shankar was for the sublime and effervescent abstraction of music!  Panditji's art was a reflection of the world around him, deep and rich, full of wonder, quiet, still and timeless as if communicating from an ancient era long forgotten.  Simultaneously, the sound is still so fresh and alive, pulsing, dancing and bubbling over with joyous playful abandon.

An approach sophisticated and complex, yet profoundly simple in its impact on the psyche.  With uncompromising adherence to the highest standards of classical raga purity, yet he was highly innovative, always creative and different every time.  Expanding the limits of technique and skillfulness at the same time full of emotional soulfulness.  A complete music which through it all he exuded love... Love for life.  Love for others and Love for God. 


Jai guru, we miss you!  Listen to our KPFK radio tribute from December here opening with a sound collage of Raviji's music and voice relating the spiritual context of raga music.

1 comment:

E. T. Hansen said...

Hi Paul,

Reading Hans Cousto's claim of Sadja base note C=136.1 hz - what Sadja tuning was used by Mr Shankar, and does that go all the way back into sitar history?

Why not e.g. sadja = 128 hz?

Are you familiar with the deeper philosophy behind the sadja = ?

Researching for a movie..

God bless,
Erasmus