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Music as a Form of Cultural Dialogue: The Case of Ravi Shankar

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2015

Rajeev S. Patke
Rajeev S. Patke*
Affiliation:
Yale-NUS College, 6 College Avenue East, #06-11F, Singapore 1386146. E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

The paper explores the notion of cultural dialogue in terms of a specific application: the contributions made by the sitar music of the Indian musician Ravi Shankar to the setting up of a conversation between the musical traditions of North India and their reception and partial assimilation by largely Western audiences. A survey of Shankar’s career, contextualized by a more general discussion of the problems and challenges encountered in bringing the musical conventions of one tradition into conversation with the musical expectations and assumptions of another culture leads to the conclusion that what Shankar achieved, over a lifetime of creativity and musical fusion, was a partial success: on the one hand, it disseminated the auratic aspects of this musical tradition to a wide global audience; but on the other, it did so at the cost measured by purists in terms of a simplification or dilution of the music as practised in its original cultural contexts.

Type
Focus: A Dialogue of Cultures
Information
European Review , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 439 - 453
Copyright
© Academia Europaea 2015 

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References

References and Notes

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19.Interviewer: ‘Is that the fundamental difference between you and your contemporaries like Vilayat Khan and Nikhil Banerjee? That you took risks with your music? That you explored new frontiers, did more radical experiments, attracted more ire?’ Shankar: ‘The difference between all of them and me is actually a very simple one. It is my double identity. When I play the sitar in the traditional gharana learned at the feet of Baba, I am very orthodox. On the other hand, when I compose original music, I am daring, radical. I use non-Indian instruments. I experiment. People often confuse these two identities of mine. They think because I am experimenting, I am no more pure, I am gone.’ P. Nandy (1999) The Rediff Interview/Pandit Ravi Shankar (Rediff on the Net. Online: http://www.rediff.com/news/1999/mar/23nandy1.htm. Accessed 14 March 2013). I am grateful to my friend and colleague Dr Saranindranath Tagore for numerous discussions on music over the last decade, and for drawing my attention to this and several other references cited here.Google Scholar
20.Nikhil Banerjee (1931–1986) was taught by the same guru as Ravi Shankar, and also learnt with Shankar’s main duet partner, Ali Akbar Khan. His response to musical experiments across cultures was scepticism about musical fusion. Here is part of an interview. Interviewer: ‘Pandit Ravi Shankar has done some interesting experiments with his Sitar Concertos, using symphony orchestras and such.’ NB: ‘No comment, no comment. But I definitely didn’t like that duet with Mr. Yehudi Menuhin, East Meets West. No, I’ve heard Yehudi Menuhin many times; in Western music he’s a different giant, but when he’s playing some Indian music it is just like a child. For a stunt, it’s OK, but I really disagree, I don’t like this idea. You cannot mix up everything! It is not possible.’ I. Landgarten (1986/1991) Nikhil Banerjee Interview, Part 2 (Online: http://www.raga.com/interviews/207int2.html. Accessed 14 March 2013).Google Scholar
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