How Ravi Shankar's Sitar Became America's Obsession
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ค. 2024
- Learn How Ravi Shankar & George Harrison Brought The Sitar To The West, and about the cultural revolution that ensued. But not without his regrets. TUNE IN to learn about the compelling tale of Raga Rock from the 1960s. 🤘🤘🤘
Tingo Theme Song: sites.google.com/view/ryan-si...
Songs Used (In Order Of Appearance):
Elvis Presley - Heartbreak Hotel
Three Ragas - Ravi Shankar
Norwegian Wood This Bird Has Flown - The Beatles
Paint It Black - The Rolling Stones
Traffic - Paper Sun
Fancy - The Kinks
Black Mountain Side - Led Zeppelin
Om - The Moody Blues
Venus In Furs - The Velvet Underground
Within You Without You - The Beatles
White Summer - The Yardbirds
Indian Summer - The Doors
Beck - Loser
00:00 - Intro
00:36 - Becoming Ravi (1940-50)
02:52 - Raga Rock Explosion
05:41 - Criticism
08:01 - George Harrison & Ravi
08:47 - Criticism Continued
10:21 - Conclusion
#RagaRock #VideoEssay #RaviShankar
Keywords: Ravi Shankar, Ravi, Shankar, Raga Rock, Raga, Rock, The Beatles, Beatles, George Harrison, George, Harrison, Sitar Rock, Sitar, Ravi Shankar Beatles, George Harrison Playing Sitar, George Harrison Ravi Shankar, Psychedelic Guitar, Psychedelic Sitar, Reaction to Led Zeppelin, The Moody Blues,
psychedelic music
the creation of psychedelic rock
the dawn of psychedelic rock
first psychedelic rock
It hurts when Indian classical music is called ‘psychedelic music’. That’s not how it was ever intended to be.
Maybe because we experience ecstasy and spiritual experience with our classical music and they experience it with psychedelics so they find similar experience..
@@cos_mos_island for sure. I am very interested in psychedelic experiences, and I also love playing Hindustani classical on sitar. The feelings do have some difference but deep immersion in the raga makes one feel definitely altered consciousness
Is psychedelic meaning bad? I don't think so
@@haripurwantouispiritual music is not meant to be treated like psychedelics. It's the West that doesn't understand that there is a certain sanctity and tradition with art of other places.
@@haripurwantouipsychedelics are for escaping reality, spiritual music is to feel the soul, Different ideologies
He is not just "a" sitar player.. he is THE LEGENDARY Sitar Player.
Pride of us Indians.
Ravi is to Sitar as Lata is to Vocal..
Had he let Annapurna Devi play and had he not killed his own son out of jealousy, you would not have been telling this😂😂😂😂
He was one of the many. It's just he travelled outside.
I saw Ravi in concert in the late 70’s. My reason for going was to see George Harrison, but hearing Ravi was incredible. I noticed that people were not being respectful, walking around and talking. I felt badly for Ravi Shankar. Regardless, I loved the whole experience. Listening and seeing George Harrison a dream come true for me. May they both Rest In Peace ☮️✝️
Here is a tribute to the Beatles…. th-cam.com/video/N0kv5r6Rn6E/w-d-xo.htmlsi=vYDJ9HnveZ89RI19
Concert for Bangladesh
Where did you see Ravi?
Please add 'Pandit' before you address Pandit Ravi Shankar ji. Just a matter of adding respect.
@@abantikagoswami4424why are you forcing other culture to act acvording to you...especially here on docial media where people make fun and write bad things without any regret...
What a tragedy. Poor Ravi just wanted to share his music and culture but the western audiences only wanted to tokenize him.
I think John McLaughlin deserves an honourable mention, as he, more than any other western musician, successfully fused Indian Classical Music with rock, jazz, and blues, particularly in the Shakti group, which included some of the greatest Indian musicians of the time. I recommend listening to both ‘Handful of Beauty’ and ‘Natural Elements’.
Thank you
Agreed. Saw that Shakti back in 1976. Just saw a show on their 50th anniversary tour, with John, Zakir (on tablas), and three new musicians. One of the greatest concerts I ever heard and saw.
I used to play Indian Santoor, but never mastered it (though I enjoyed playing it and there’s a couple of videos on my channel where I am doing a jam on it$, and tuning a hundred strings is too much for me.
Yes that's precisely true.
Did far much more than others..
They just did a tiny desk show and it was awesome
Yehudi Menuhin was playing with Ravi in the early 60's.
Rest in Peace Ravi Shankar, a music legend
This felt like a proper documentary, really well done video man
Yes I agree and in such a short time too! It definitely felt longer with the amount of information relayed, thoroughly enjoyed!
To learn sitar or any indian music style it's a long process it requires many years of training ... determination, decipline it's all part of process ....that's what make it pleasant and peaceful ....it's the process ....
No one cares 😂
@@eponymouseyreyou might not care . Who are you to make word for everyone ?
@@eponymouseyre just like you and your life. Go bark somewhere else.
It depends on where you wanna reach, it is supposed to be enjoyed, dont be dead and practice, enjoy first, have fun, anyone who practices music like a chore will never become good at it
@@eponymouseyreThis documentary itself proved who cares! It's not for lunatics
One beautiful thing did happen out of all this, Norah Jones 🥰If it wasn't for Pandit Ravi Shankar's stay in the USA, he would have never met Sue Jones.
i love how george always respected the instrument, you can see how it is reflected in his raga rock works, post-norwegian wood
His performance at the pop in the 1960s is one of the best musical performances in history 💯 even if you don’t like that kind of music it’s still just so impressive the skill and the talent and the speed he puts into playing ☯️
The Byrds, Beach Boys, The Moody Blues, Led Zeppelin (the No Quarter solo), Psychedelic Rock, 90s indie rock, John Coltrane, trance ... the influence of Indian music through Ravi Shankar and others as well on American and British music is immense. It is often not recognized in rock and pop music.
Somewhat understandable Shankar tried to distance himself from the psychedelic drug culture , but every new musical genre initially gets somewhat diluted from its original intentions. When Ravi finally got over his reservations he obviously appreciated to have been such a major influence. All musical styles are open to one's own personal interpretations .
The thing is, the West eventually interprets everything as fashion and hedonism.
That's what capitalism does to mass culture. It strips it away from any soul or meaning and it turns into McMusic🍟.
Pandit Ravi Shankar was born in the holiest city of India, Banaras (Varanasi), Uttar Pradesh to be precise. This city because of its musical roots and history is the reason why it became the center of some precious musical gems of India. It is the city of famous Banaras Gharana and Kathak dance. It is the city of birth of some of the greatest musicians of India like Ravidas, Tansen, Ustad Bismillah Khan, Vikash Maharaj, Girija Devi and others. And this is reason why Varanasi has joined the global bandwagon of UNESCO "Cities of Music" under the Creative Cities Network.
I wonder why this important information was omitted from the video and instead mentioned that he moved to Mumbai later!
Good little article that wasn't clickbait but was a genuine mini-documentary.
Kula Shaker band should be mentioned too in the other modern bands mentioned at the conclusion. But anyway, this is a really great documentary. We love you Pandit Ravi Shankar. Always. Om Santi Santi... 🙏🙏
Proud to be a bengalee!
He wasn't rvi shankar
He was pundit ravi shankar
Fun fact - 9 times Grammy winner Norah jones is the biological daughter of Ravi Shankar !!
Contrast the approaches of George Harrison and Brian Jones to the sitar. George's first take, "Norwegian Wood," was tentative and conventional in the western sense, but he challenged himself to study further. Brian picked one up and launched into "Paint It Black," showing an intuitive understanding of the what the instrument could be used for. And he never studied or recorded with it again.
Unsure what point you're trying to make here...
@@Joeonline26 Brian's talent was instinctive but undisciplined. When he got bored he put it down. At first George didn't seem to know what to do with it; but he studied, practiced, persisted, and became quite inventive on it, for a western dilettante.
You could probably make an argument that Brian's use for the sitar was more utilitarian. After "Paint It Black," the Stones had no further use for it. But at the same time, Brian's guitar playing was hitting a wall, too.
That's why jesus says the meek and the humble inherit the kingdom of God. Not exactly in the same vein as here but similar case story. I am like a Brian Jones so i understand the things I too missed out in vanity and indiscipline
Wonderful video! I'm really interested in the late 60s, early 70s psychedelic music scene lately and this was incredibly informative.
Sander I have great memories of 60’s and the 70’s. I was in my late teens and my 20’. The best music was made at that time☮️✝️
Well done, you hit on a number of points that often get lost in nostalgia
Fantastic video, thanks for making this, I'll absolutely be checking out the rest of your work
Amazing video! I love Ravi, his music his music will live on as one of the greatest sitar player. I try to learn the sitar and I couldn't so I stop
Great video! You're right that 60s are an endlessly fascinating time for music
Beautiful use of visuals and archival shots to tell the story of Ravi Shankar, raga music, and raga rock and psychedelic rock.
And again i did not get disappointed by your video. Amazing work, keep it up, it will pay off!
This was a truly unique experience! Thank you for this. Well done 😊👏🏻
Great content! Professionally done.
Ravi Shankar and Pandit Pran Nath helped redefine popular and experimental music of the 60s kind of by mistake. Some of the best mistakes in the history of music, so many great works of art came out during this period, it sparked staggering creativity!
Excellent video, a real gem of editing that I hope gets more love from the algorithm!
This Video is super well made!! Great work
This is a great video , even we Indians didn't know that much about the legend Ravishankar .
Excellent breakdown! Thanks for posting.
This is do detailed and fun to learn about this legend.
Really nice video very well put thanks 🙂
Great content great compilation great presentation!!!
Great work buddy! Love all the way from India.
And west still portrays our classical music with their pesudo indian music, and many times they miss it with middle east culture
A great video. Highly educational
Man, these videos get too few views for such high production values
I know right. They're as good as Vox's vids.
Incredible video.
Great video!
what a nice and well-done documentary, Here in Pakistan and India Classical music is very heavy like in terms of respect and impact. This culture is so heavy and difficult to master that it's fading away really fast.
This video is fair and informative !! Good job!
This was great!
appreciate the perspective
His music is spiritual not psychedelic music. West needs to understand difference between psychedelics and spiritual.
But it is like that, you are just in denial, its not as extreme as e guitar but its still the same kind of sound. Sitar was also made around the time when India was under slavery so it makes sense as to why they would chase after something that gives ecstasy. Veena is the true Indian classical instrument, sitar is a tweaked version of veena which is designed to sound exotic.
No Sir, please read up on the spiritual value of psychedelics. Read John Hopkins University research and many other recent ones on the spiritual potential of psychedelics.
I was lucky enough to see him live in a concert
Thanks!
Psychedelics and spiritual enlightenment essentially aim for the same objective, experiencing something fundamental within oneself. I understand the reservations some people have, but it is what it is. India will always be the land of wild experimentations when it comes to spirituality.
Thanks for this bro....
Pleasures all mine! Glad people are enjoying the content 🤘
3/2023........Like it or not, I became interested in sitar music specifically because of its integration into western music, and the Beatles,...and many other bands at the time who would sprinkle it in their music. Sometime in the mid 1970s when I was in college, I bought a cassette which was of Ravi playing his sitar and explaining how to listen to it. He explained each kind of note and each rhythm instrument. Just listening to his voice was hypnotic, relaxing and I felt it was perfect for accompanying meditation. I still have the cassette in 2023, and I cherish it. It's titled: Ravi Shankar, The Sounds of India. Its on You Tube and I keep the link close at hand. I experimented with mind altering drugs, with absolutely no regrets. And I did in fact listen to his music when I was tripping on acid, or stoned on hashish, & weed. Not exclusively, as there are plenty of Jazz musicians to listen to when you are in that state of mind. Great video!
My experience surrounding Ravi's music is similar honestly. I was obsessed with 60s music and first heard Ravi through the OG raga rock tracks. Upon conducting research for the video, I was surprised about Ravi's hesitance about the psychedelic adoption. Now, I can't say I've dropped to Ravi, but definitely to artists heavily inspired by him and the raga rock wave.
That cassette sounds awesome man, and quite the treasure you kept it around so long. Cheers!
@@TingoMedia A blessing of our modern times: "TH-cam". Through TH-cam I am able to find so many sitar performances and other Indian musicians to listen to and enjoy. Saw a great one last week ( about demystifying the sitar), a full description of the sitar, and how is works, and what the musicians are doing when they play it.
You are so underrated man. Great work!
Just wanted to know the track you've used in background while talking about the LSD .
Thanks! That is a royalty free song is called Wall Sitar by Chad Doreck
The same thing is happening with yoga nowadays in the West. It's disheartening to see yoga being reduced to "form of an exercise" and the West even sexualized it.
Insightful video, just want to praise the editor more they poured their soul in the video
Appreciate it brother! I actually make all my videos by myself 🙌
Comme on man, I 😊have you a 👍, but how could you ever miss to mention the "concert for Bangladesh" where Ravi Shankar performed one of his greatest gigs?
Thank you 😊 ✔️
Imagine a John Coltrane/Ravi Shankar album O_o
I went to his house to meet him a decade or less before he passed, because my father brought me along, and I had no idea who he was. I just remember him being pretty chill, as were the people around him. We joked about basic things in life.
Hey man, know I’m late but what’s that first Sitar song you play, the faster one… Loved the video, great editing 🫡
A great video overall but Venus in furs and black mountain side did not use sitar. Venus in furs was John Cale using his violin and open tunes guitars creating the drone. And while black mountain side did use tablas (I think) it is a cover of an English folk song. I also want to say that while ravis influence was huge the use of drones in western music was a thing long before Indian influence. Just listen to Scottish bagpipes, Gregorian chants, or even English folk and American blues with open guitar tunings! From my perspective the 60’s raga rock thing was always about the timbre of the sitar and modal improvisation (also pioneered by Miles Davis).
Black Mountain Side is a cover of an English folk song. Even if the song credit says Jimmy Page. I love Jimmy but he wasn't above doing that sort of thing back then. White Summer is a re-write of She Walked Through the Fair.
Like most liberals the video tries to credit an Indian non white with creating psychedelic rock … so they can say “wElL acKtually wHiTe PEople dID’nt inVeNt pSYCh rOck” it’s fine because Indian music comes from the white Aryan people who settled northern India
Legend ❤
"his world was not one of sex drugs or rock n roll" I agree with the the drugs or rock n roll part, but Ravi had a lot of lovers in his lifetime, he was not monogamous and he was open about it with all his partners
Hey, what's the background raga rock song that starts at 1:07?
What is the outro music at the very end called?
Can someone please tell me what's the song that starts at 06:29
In late 1970,80 and 90 people were so engaged drugs and many wrong activities which made them human with empty brain so how they can understand the concept of Bhartiya Music which is so deep🙏🍀🌹🙂
Actually, it was the opposite --- those LSD junkies and hippies who created the information revolution which began in the late 1960s. These junkies included Steve Jobs of Apple, Bill Gates, Warnock of Adobe and many others. Read the book "How Hippies Saved Physics." It is a scholarly book. Please also read up on the current findings on psychedelics such as LSD, magic mushroom, etc. Learn and grow.
As a jazz listener, hearing John Coltrane's name here felt like a MCU cameo :D
What is the name of the tune at 5:14. I remember it from my youth but can't name it. Many thanks.
Personally, I love the melody in Norwegian Wood on the sitar- it sounds beautiful to me, simple yes, so what!?
I have listened to the music of India all of my life and feel blessed for that.
Progress in music or anything, doesn't happen over night. It is always a gradual process. It is inclusive not exclusive.
That is open mindedness, and an open heart.
I find much criticism of music to be a cheap imitation of intelligence. Just using the intellect for its own self satisfaction.
Music heals humanity, so does silence. 🕉
Ragarock lives! 🎉
and sometimes things come back around. Here, a professional sitar player's take on Norwegian Wood th-cam.com/video/t73eRgsNxls/w-d-xo.html
1:58 Wasn't Ravi already very famous in India (population over 350 million in 1950) during 1950s?
No. Ravi Shankar became famous in India only after his Western tours -- especially after 1968.
While I totally understand his disgust with the hedonistic audience not respecting his art, I'm kinda surprised he expected rock musicians to play his instrument "properly", the traditional way. At the time the whole concept of a distorted and further processed guitar sound was still kinda fresh. So contemporary classical guitar musicians could have the same attitude towards the rock music. Yet here we are.
"I couldn't believe it, it sounded so strange. Just imagine some Indian Villager trying to play the violin."
I for one would LOVE to hear that!!!
Must be AMAZING to hear what they'd do with it.
Musical instruments are not per se "culturally bound":
Think of Synths in Black/Death Metal, or a church organ, or bagpipes.
This is the issue in general in music (and everything, really, like Indian people being angry when a non-Indian woman wears a Sari:
Ridiculous, since that is a token of respect, even though it is not meant as such!)
It's about damn time folks open up their minds, and share their cultural history with others.
It will lead to new, nice things.
Just like Sitar in Western Music (check Rob Scallon's Sitar Death Metal!!! It is AWESOME!!!!)
If all shared, the people of the world would be FAR more united, becoming one.
A goal to pursuit, since, only that would lead to more chance for life on Earth to survive ... .
But one can only dream, I guess.
I 100% agree. Music is about freedom of expression. Musical instruments should be experimented with, trying out different combinations and styles.
@@caniorderapizza This.
Simple.
Fact!
I doubt any Indian gets angry when a foreigner wears saree. We all get excited n take it as an honour. It's the west who scream at each other about appropriating Indian culture while us Indians are left wondering what the big deal is
@@rkh7360 I know of 3 situations where a woman got engaged in an angry cannonade of words due to not "not wearing the Sari correct".
I think, you can google for similar situations.
Mind, I spoke of "Indian" people and "wrongfully worn sari", this was nothing else than an example, and in any way meant as such.
had to give an example, and took a random one.
Could just as well been over smurfs and their crooked space helmets.
But, that then, was not quite too realistic, of course, these crooked space helms.
Read up about Carnatic & Hindustani music and how complex and nuanced it is. Of course its culturally bound, as all traditional music genres around the world are. The audience who listen to such a kind of music are not expecting to let their hair down like wild animals for "freedom". That definition of freedom may apply in the West, but not in the East. There are vast cultural differences between both. For once let the non-western world BE, without trying to force down on your western ideals about what "freedom" and "progression" are.
wow!!!!!!! :O
He is also father of Norah Jones :)
Everything in internal, internationally psychedelic, it always hurts.......
3:28 it was actually John Lennon's melody made on guitar
There’s no sitar in Venus in Fur , but there s an inspiration
❤️
May he was the first Indian World Famous Musician
tabla is a percussion by the way
4:02 songs influenced by ravi
Pandit Shree Ravishankar ji*
Only Foreigners can ruin The universality of Music by attaching it to drugs, sex , psychedelic tag and negativity. For Bharatiyas Music is always uplifting ,pure and Divine. No wonder that Pandit Ravi Shankar ji was stunned and shocked at the violent behaviour / violent action of guitarist who broke the instrument , he was playing. How cud one claim to love music, when one does not respects his own instrument? That's unacceptable and crude. Harrison finally Got the divine intervention and transformed himself to Vaishnavism. It was the Harikirtan that transformed the life of so many druggies in U. S. It's a mercy of swami bhativedant Srila A.C. Praphupada.
6:20 classic Orientalism
6:54 And west still portrays our music by their pesudo indian music, and many times they miss it with middle east culture
Poor Legend should've studied more about the kind of audience he'd be performing with 🎭
The irony of all this is that Ravi Shankar was not anywhere near the best sitar player India has produced. There are at least two sitar players I rate much higher than him: 1) Nikhil Banerjee and 2) Vilayat Khan.
Ravi-ji was actually playing a slightly watered down and sped up version of Indian classical music to suit western tastes. This is why he was so popular in the west. Whereas the other above mentioned sitar players stuck to the traditional style of playing and refused to change for anyone.
Listening to Nikhil Banerjee’s sitar is a sublime experience, but you need to have a real appreciation for Indian raga music (and the patience to sit through his slow, meditative recitals). It’s not the type of music that would have suited Woodstock or Monterey Pop Festival.
Vilayat Khan’s sitar is arguably even more difficult to appreciate. You need to have a firm grounding in Indian vocal music to appreciate what he was trying to do on sitar. All of this would have been completely lost on western audiences.
So, please let’s not confuse “popularity” with “greatness”.
Ustad Vilayat Khan: th-cam.com/video/G7TCu3MI0HQ/w-d-xo.html
When Ustad Vilayat Khan did not use his sitar prowess to do a lot of recordings with the artists in the West particularly USA he was considered as not so great as Ravi Shankar.
All through his life Ravi Shankar got more fame and wealth compared to those like Ustad Vilayat Khan. Now he says that he made a mistake. Who is the real Ravi Shankar I ask?
He did not regret his collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin or Satyajit Ray!
@@debjyotimandal4927 - And you were with him when he said that. Grow up. Stopping putting your twist to what we all know.
Ravi was SHOCKED to hear the sitar in popular music, which made the sitar and Ravi, extremely popular! lol
Wow! Talk about selective listening. He was upset about the association with drugs. He was upset his audience didn't seem to be listening in. In india, artists who train in classical music or dance are extremely respectful of their art. A religious devotion almost. Imagine a piano concert audience making out in the crowd, I'm sure the piano artist will also feel upset.
West is all about sex and drugs celebacy is part of enlightenment.
Obsession nehi bolunga but popular
Pandit Ravi Shankar ji is the father of Gheethali Norah Jones Shankar and Anoushka Shankar. and they are just as talented as their father.
It was cultural appropriation at it's height
Jimi hendrix was the hight talent in guitarre he played it by its tooth ;how so extra artists rised early and died early ;elvis so!ravi shankar also with lovely song (I am missing you );graham nash -neil young-bad company-rolling stones-beatles-jackson brown-etc...;eternel paradis with everlasting lovers
It is so embarrassing for an artist to see people doing drugs and making out in live concert between thousands of others.
proud to be an INDIAN ❤
we can not act like drugs are not involved in indian culture. it has been since nearly the beginning.
What drugs?
@@SagarRawat-vy9ir marijuana known as cannabis for example. they have many ways of preparing it for use, one of which called Bahng, which is a weed yea of sorts that some have said to be psychedelic.
@@SagarRawat-vy9irhash
@@priyaxo8116 I am smoking hash right now 😬
@@priyaxo8116 Sure they're associated, but the only spiritual people who actually smoke ganja are like homeless sadhus and stuff. Actual proper, respected gurus and Hindu devotees never do drugs.
He was Slash of Sitar!!!!
So bizarre to name your kid after a musician, especially one you arent close with.
Ravishankar worst artist ever who didn't allow his wife annapoorna devi great sitar artist to perform he is not a good human being 😡😡😡😡
Well educate yourself with Word Pandit Ravi Shankar 🤦🏻♂️