Sitar Beat!

Pundit Ravi Shankar uncle to Ananda Shankar

A Tribute To Ananda Shankar.
11 December 1942 - 26 March 1999

10 years to the day of his leaving the earthly realm, Ananda Shankar who was born into the world reknowned music & dancing family of India. Studied sitar amazingly not from his famous uncle. It was when he travelled to the US in the late 6T`s that his innovative work became noticed, fusing the evocative sounds of the east with contemporary western music, that sat so well with the whole hippie/flower power, indian mysticism vibe of those times. While playing with numerous artists including Jimi Hendricks he was picked up by Reprise records and released his Cult Classic which contained many indian classicial pieces as well as sitar cover tunes of The Rolling Stones "jumping jack flash" and my personal favorite the cover of The Doors "light my fire"

Returning to India, in 1975 he released on EMI(india) the LP
Ananda Shankar And His Music

A pulsating mix of psychedelic sitar jazz funk with the stand out tracks "Streets Of Calcutta" and here "Dancing Drums". Which became such killers on the dancefloors of the UK`s undeground scene.



It was when Talvin Singh started the Anokha club night at the old Blue Note club in London`s East End in the 9T`s, that things took off again. The club night was to increase awareness among the underground UK dance scene to the 3rd generation british asian youth`s mixing up of all the classical south asian styles with drum 'n' bass, techno, hip-hop, breaks and rock to devastatingly wicked effect.

This lead to a collaboration with DJ Sam Zaman (aka State Of Bengal) who had long been an admirer of his work, the resulting LP "Walking On" released on Peter Gabriel`s label REALWORLD was to show the full extent of Ananda`s exciting sitar soundscapes....Unfortunatly Shankar's sudden death from heart failure was to cut short any LIVE performance stemming from the LP`s release, which eventully hit the airwaves in 2000.

Thank you Anandaji for contributing to my musical education.

For more sounds check out DJ Pathaan`s Musical Rickshaw Radio Show.
Also Pathaan`s Supperclub NOMADS 7 compilation.

Ananda Shankar - dancing drums (mp3 download)