On December 15, 2024, Ustad Zakir Hussain died aged 73. He was musician (tabla, percussion), composer, music producer and film actor, considered as one of the greatest tabla players of all time.Hussain recorded and performed with number of famous musicians, among the others with John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Mickey Hart, Ravi Shankar, Bill Laswell, Shankar Lakshminarayana, Pat Martino, Shakti, John Handy, Pharaoh Sanders, Ali Akbar Khan and Charles Lloyd. For his work he was awarded the “Govt of India’s Sangeet Natak Akademi Award “, “Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship”, “Ratna Sadsya”, and the “United States National Endowment for the Arts’ National Heritage Fellowship”. Hussain won four “Grammy Awards”.
Tag Archives: Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar: India’s Master Musician
In March 1959, “World Pacific” label released “India’s Master Musician”, the second Ravi Shankar album. It was recorded in 1958, in Hollywood, and was produced by Richard Bock.
Personnel:
- Ravi Shankar – sitar
- Chatur Lal – table
- Nodu Mullick – tamboura
- Armand Acosta – design
- Richard Bock – cover photography
- Philip Melnick – additional photography
Track listing:
- Kafi-Holi
- Dhun
- Mishra Piloo
- Raga Puriya Dhanashri
- Raga Charu Keshi
George Harrison
On November 29, 2001, George Harrison died aged 58. He was musician (guitar), singer, songwriter, and music and movie producer, lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Beatles. His interest in folk music and especially in Indian music had serious influence on the band’s Hindu-aligned spirituality in the later years. Some of his songs composed for the band include “Here Comes the Sun”, “Something”, “Taxman”, “Within You Without You”, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. After The Beatles broke-up in 1970, Harrison released the album “All Things Must Pass” which included the track “My Sweet Lord”, his most successful single, and the first solo single by any member of The Beatles that sold over million copies. In 1971, together with Ravi Shankar he organized “Concert for Bangladesh”, the first big benefit concert in the music history. In 1974, Harrison founded the music label “Dark Horse Records”, and co-founded movie label “Hand Made Films” in 1978. In 1988, with Bob Dylan, Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, and Roy Orbison, he co-founded the supergroup The Travelling Wilburys. As a guitarist he recorded for Badfinger, Billy Preston, Bob Dylan, Duane Eddy, Randy Newman, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Ronnie Wood, and Tom Petty. “Rolling Stone” magazine ranked Harrison at number 11 in their list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. In 1988, as a member of The Beatles he was inducted in the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”, and in 2004, posthumously for his solo career. As leader, Harrison released twelve studio and two live albums.
Gary Peacock
On September 5, 2020, Gary Peacock died aged 85. He was a musician (bass), one of the most important figures in modern jazz history. He recorded and performed with major jazz figures such as Albert Ayler, Paul Bley, Bill Evans, Keith Jarret, Frank Amsallem, Bill Carrothers, Marc Copland, Marilyn Crispell, Don Ellis, Clare Fischer, Barney Kessel, Sonny Simmons, Prince Lasha, Misha Mengelberg, Don Pullen, Bud Shank, Ravi Shankar, John Surman, Ralph Towner, Mal Waldrom, Tony Williams, Jack DeJohnette, Jimmy Woods, Toninho Horta, and Masabumi Kikuchi. As leader, he released twelve albums.
Gary Kellgren
On July 20, 1977, Gary Kellgren died aged 38. He was an audio engineer and co-founder of “The Record Plant” recording studios (with Chris Stone). He worked with musicians John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Bill Wyman, Jimi Hendrix, B.B. King, Bobby Goldsboro, The Animals, Stevie Wonder, Carole King, Frank Zappa, Sly, and the Family Stone, Velvet Underground, Rod Stewart, Ravi Shankar, Keith Moon, CSNY, Barbra Streisand, and Neil Diamond. He also worked with producers Chas Chandler, Jack Douglas, Robert Margouleff, Phil Spector, Wes Farrell, Tom Wilson, and Bill Szymczyk.
The Bottom Line
On February 12, 1974, “The Bottom Line” club opened in New York City. Owned by Allan Pepper and Stanley Snadowsky, during the 70’s and 80’s, the club was a major space for small-scale music performances. The club stoped working in 2004. Some of the artists who performed in the club were Miles Davis, Gato Barbieri, Bill Evans, Charles Mingus, Mose Allison, Muddy Waters, Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Ray Barretto, Peter Gabriel, Al Kooper, Tom Waits, Melvin Van Peebles, Neil Sedaka, Billy Joel, Suzi Quatro, Patti Smith, Flo & Eddie, Toots and the Maytals, Cheech & Chong, Tower of Power, Tim Hardin, Roger McGuinn, JJ Cale, The Meters, Greg Kihn Band, Ry Cooder,Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes, Sam & Dave, Asım Can Gündüz, The Ronettes, John Cale, Gong, Peter Bardens, The Violent Femmes, Eric Clapton, Carl Perkins, Linda Ronstadt,The Police, Richard Marx, Prince, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Van Morrison, The Stone Poneys, Chuck Mangione, Emmylou Harris, Clinn Rippy, Neil Young, Barry Manilow, Laura Nyro, Loudon Wainwright III, New York Dolls, Lyle Lovett, The Electric Flag, Pat Martino, Todd Rundgren, Graham Parker, Grayson Hugh, Stan Ridgway, Horslips, Dire Straits,Chris Hillman, Hawkwind, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Tracy Nelson, The Pointer Sisters, Betty Carter, Ravi Shankar, Ramones and Michael Hedges.
George Harrison & Frineds: The Concert for Bangladesh
On December 20, 1971, “Apple” label released “The Concert for Bangladesh” a live triple album by George Harrison and his friends. The album is recording from the concert on August 1, 1971, at “Madison Square Garden” in New York, held in aid of the homeless Bengali refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. This was the first big humanitarian concert with international music stars and was the model for future big rock benefits events such as “Live Aid” (1985). The album was produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector. The box set included a 64-page book containing concert photos. ”The Concert for Bangladesh” won “Grammy Award” for “Album of the Year”.
Personnel:
- George Harrison – vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, backing vocals
- Ravi Shankar– sitar
- Bob Dylan– vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonica
- Leon Russell– piano, vocals, bass, backing vocals
- Ringo Starr– drums, vocals, tambourine
- Billy Preston– Hammond organ, vocals
- Eric Clapton– electric guitar
- Ali Akbar Khan– sarod
- Alla Rakha– tabla
- Kamala Chakravarty– tambura
- Jesse Ed Davis– electric guitar
- Klaus Voormann– bass
- Jim Keltner– drums
- Pete Ham– acoustic guitar
- Tom Evans– twelve-string acoustic guitar
- Joey Molland– acoustic guitar
- Mike Gibbins– tambourine, maracas
- Don Preston– electric guitar, vocals, percussion
- Carl Radle– bass
- Jim Horn– saxophones, horn arrangements
- Chuck Findley– trumpet
- Jackie Kelso– saxophones
- Allan Beutler – saxophones
- Lou McCreary – trombone
- Ollie Mitchell– trumpet
- Claudia Linnear, Jo Green, Jeanie Greene, Marlin Greene, Dolores Hall, Don Nix – backing vocals
- Tom Wilkes – design
Track listing:
- George Harrison/Ravi Shankar Introduction – George Harrison, Ravi Shankar
- Bangla Dhun – Ravi Shankar
- Wah-Wah – George Harrison
- My Sweet Lord – George Harrison
- Awaiting on You All – George Harrison
- That’s the Way God Planned It – Billy Preston
- It Don’t Come Easy – Richard Starkey
- Beware of Darkness – George Harrison
- Band Introduction
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps – George Harrison
- Medley: Jumpin’ Jack Flash/Youngblood – Mick Jagger, Keith Richards/Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Doc Pomus
- Here Comes the Sun – George Harrison
- A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan
- It Takes A Lot to Laugh It – Bob Dylan
- Blowin’ in the Wind – Bob Dylan
- Mr. Tambourine Man – Bob Dylan
- Just Like A Woman – Bob Dylan
- Something – George Harrison
- Bangla Desh – George Harrison
Ravi Shankar
On December 11, 2012, Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury aka Ravi Shankar died aged 92. Shankar was world renowned composer, musician, performer and scholar of Indian classical music. In his long and distinguished career, through teaching, performances, and cooperation with Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison, Shankar engaged Western music by writing compositions for sitar and orchestra. His career includes numerous recordings and performances at all the world’s leading venues.
The Concert for Bangladesh
“The Concert for Bangladesh” were actually two benefit concerts organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, held at 2.30 and 8 pm on Sunday, August 1, 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The shows were organized to raise international awareness and fund relief efforts for refugees from East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), following the Bangladesh Liberation War-related Bangladesh atrocities. The concerts were followed by a live album, a boxed three-record set, and “Apple Films” concert documentary, which opened in cinemas in the spring of 1972. The event was the first-ever benefit concert of such a magnitude and featured a supergroup of performers that included Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, Leon Russell and the Badfinger. In addition, Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan – both of whom had ancestral roots in Bangladesh – performed an opening set of Indian classical music. Decades later, Shankar would say of the overwhelming success of the event: “In one day, the whole world knew the name of Bangladesh. It was a fantastic occasion”.
The concerts raised close to US$250,000 for Bangladesh relief, which was administered by UNICEF. Although the project was subsequently marred by financial problems – a result of the pioneering nature of the venture – the “Concert for Bangladesh” is recognized as a highly successful and influential humanitarian aid project, generating both awareness and considerable funds as well as providing valuable lessons and inspiration for projects that followed, notably Live Aid. By 1985, through revenue raised from the “Concert for Bangladesh” live album and film, an estimated $12 million had been sent to Bangladesh in relief. Sales of the live album and DVD release of the film continue to benefit the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.
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