Ravi Shankar: Fillmore East, New York NY

This article originally appeared on Billboard on September 20th, 1969

Shankar Honors Ghandi in a Memorable Performance

NEW YORK — Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, accompanied by Alia Rakha on tabla, played the Fillmore East on Sept. 7 and paid a moving musical tribute to Mahatma Ghandi in recognition of the 100th anniversary of the leader's birth.

The tribute was a Sitar solo since the tabla is not used in solemn music. It was the highlight of an unusually long concert by the master. The performance was the last concert of Shankar's American tour and he seemed to give it special significance. The sitar solo was only one of many pieces offered. There were a couple of evening ragas and a tabla solo by Rakha, always a favorite.

Shankar is evidently tired of giving his well known introductory course in Indian music, with which he frequently preceded his concerts. Saying that he would not bother to explain how the sitar is made because "there is no use to it at this point," he showed a new respect for the Western audience.

The incredible mathematical complexities of his music might have eluded some of the Fillmore throng but his unique showmanship was not lost as he ecstatically played his soul. Rakha, meanwhile, played his tabla, the Indian drum, with all the pride and joy of a two-year-old playing a tom-tom but with the precision of a space age engineer.

Shankar concluded with some sitar-accompanied songs. The evening was a fitting tribute to a great man from a great musician.