Master Of Indian Music

There are some musicians whose status in their particular field is unchallenged and one of those must be Ravi Shankar. This is a double cd compilation that the record company chose to title Vision Of Peace - The Art Of Ravi Shankar. Looking beyond the new age title and artwork, this is a fine release with a few surprises on the first disk where some tracks don't even feature Ravi Shankar. The first track on disk one is a solo on the Japanese instrument the koto, played by Susumu Miyashita. There is a tabla feature for Alla Rakha and another for Japanese instrumentation, this time the shakuhachi of Hozan Yamamoto. All these musicians then join Ravi Shankar on an improvisation, the sparse plucked instrument and the woodwind contrasting with the full plush sound of the sitar, and he also performs a track entitled Tribute To Nippon. This disk ends with another, more traditionally Indian contribution, in homage to his own teacher Baba Allaudin. The second disk is more along the lines of what would be expected of a Ravi Shankar compilation with two full length ragas with the sitar supported by tabla and tanpuras. A great value starter for those interested with the bonus of that Japanese element to some of disk one.