Additional information
Personnel includes: Ravi Shankar (sitar); Ali Akbar Khan (sarod); Kanall Dutta (tabla); Nodu C. Mullick, Ashish Kumar (tamboura). Tracks 1-2 originally released as "The Master Musicians of India" on Prestige (1078); tracks 3-4 released as "The Soul Of Indian Music" on Prestige (7403). Includes liner notes by Jonathan Cott. This compilation is a coupling of two complete albums from the mid-'60s, featuring two of the legendary masters of Indian music, sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar and sarod player Ali Akbar Khan. It is easy to see why Shankar appealed to forward-looking musicians like the Beatles, John Coltrane, Philip Glass, Collin Walcott, and John McLaughlin, along with generations of Indian folk and classical musicians. A song like "Raga Bilashkani Todi" has a subtle yet driving rhythm and builds to a powerful crescendo, but at the same time retains a feeling of underlying deep unity. These pieces demonstrate how in raga, the importance of the composition always takes precedence over individual musical performance. This album is a fine introduction to two masters of the form.
