Re: Strange Fruit

Ashwin Tumne (ashwin@bongo)
Mon, 10 Jul 1995 14:57:54 -0400


>
> Hi there,
>
> Anandar Shankar's 'Dancing Drums' - what a tune! I heard Patrick Forge
> spin it when he played The Blue Note here in April. Isn't this guy a
> cousin of Ravi Shankars or something? I got an album of his from '70
> with covers of Light My Fire and Jumping Jack Flash on it - really
> cheezy but great. Does anyone know what 'Dancing Drums' is off & what
> year its from? And speaking of Sitar, is there any other good stuff
> out there, along the lines of 'Mathar' or 'Zoom', Indian stuff that grooves?
>

Check out Ravi Shankar's album "Improvisations". Most of it is traditional
Sitar arrangements, but there is one phenomenal track called "Fire Night".
It's a collaboration of jazz and indian classical composed by Ravi Shankar,
although he does not perform in the piece. The song goes through many different
moods that flow with suttle groove. The album was the soundtrack for Satyajit
Ray's film "Panther Panchali" and the song was inspired by the Watts riots
in 1961 (hence the name).

There are other quite a few jazz/indian classical collaborations, but I
don't know any specific CDs. Zakhir Hussain has one with John MacGlaughlin
but the name eludes me. I also heard one that was a Sitar/Hip-hop fusion. Don't
recall the artist though. I'll find out though and let you know.

Shanti,

ashwin

ashwin@isgtec.com