New York City, USA
New Yorkers will remember this weekend for a long time. Simply because of the mystical experience they had listening to the legendary virtuoso sitarist Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar who has emerged as one of the leading figure in world music today.
The New York audience at Carnegie Hall began applauding ecstatically as soon as the legendary musician placed his fingers on the strings of his sitar. "Thanking you New York", Panditji told the crowd with his usual smile and humbleness. The ever young 89 years old musician told he was optimistic and looking forward, writing new music, touring regularly and serving as a bridge between east and west for those who had never seen him playing in New York city. The Carnegic Hall audience was mesmerised by a traditional acoustic repertoire of ragas from both Ravi and Anoushka Shankar accompanied by Tabla maestro Tanmoy Bose. The recital began with the alap section, the stately and serene exploration of a chosen raga. The musician then gradually moved on to the jor. In that part, rhythm entered and became more developed in innumerable variations on the raga basic theme. There was no drum accompaniment in either the alap or the jor. Then the alap and the jor evolved into gats, the fixed composition of the raga. Here they entered into wonderful rhythmic structure of the gat and its time cycle, the tala. Step by step acceleration of the rhythm in the gat finally culminated into the jhala, which became more and more playful and exciting. The dazzling and rapid dialogue between sitar and tabla enthralled even the most uninitiated listener with its thrilling interplay.
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