Ravi Shankar Quartet Tour

March 11, 2018 • Ravi Shankar, Other • No Comments

Take a journey into the realm of Ravi Shankar’s music with his senior disciples Gaurav Mazumdar (sitar), Barry Phillips (cello), Ashwini Shankar (shehnai), and Arup Chattopadhyay (tabla). Grammy nominated Mazumdar has collaborated with composers including Philip Glass and performed at the Vatican. Grammy winner Phillips has toured worldwide with The Anoushka Shankar Project, performing at venues such as the Hollywood Bowl, The Royal Albert Hall-London, and Sydney Opera House. Born into a family of renowned shehnai musicians, Shankar began playing at a young age and has entertained audiences across the globe. Currently a teacher and visiting lecturer, Chattopadhyay has played at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, and…

Beatlestory Museum Liverpool – The Beatles in India

February 5, 2018 • Ravi Shankar, George Harrison, Exhibitions and Events • No Comments

The award-winning The Beatles Story™ in Liverpool is celebrating 50 years since The Beatles travelled to Rishikesh, India with the launch of a new special exhibition. Opening in February 2018, ‘Beatles in India’ will look at this key and relatively secretive part of the Beatles’ story with never-before-seen memorabilia, imagery and personal accounts from the people who were there with the band in 1968. A sitar used by Ravi Shankar will go onto display within the new immersive area, loaned to The Beatles Story by the Ravi Shankar Foundation. As George Harrison’s mentor, Ravi’s influence on the Beatle ultimately helped to popularise the use of Indian instruments…

Nine Decades Vol. 5: Ravi Shankar’s Ghanashyam A Broken Branch

June 13, 2017 • Ravi Shankar, New Releases • No Comments

In times when vice is treated as virtue, music can be a guide while navigating the rush of current events. To that end, on July 14th, 2017, EMWMusic will release Nine Decades Vol. 5 – Ravi Shankar’s Ghanashyam: A Broken Branch. Originally commissioned as a music theater piece by the Birmingham Touring Opera Company and premiering in 1989, Ghanashyam explores the endless creation and destruction that can surround the artist in turbulent times. Created out of his deep concern over the youth culture’s preoccupation with drugs as an “easy escape from the sadhana found in disciplined hard work,” Ravi Shankar wrote this outstanding piece to illuminate…

Southbank Centre Sitarathon May 20th

March 22, 2017 • Ravi Shankar, Exhibitions and Events • No Comments

On May 20th, 2017 to mark the London premiere of Ravi Shankar’s opera “Sukanya” on the 19th, the Southbank Centre will feature a full afternoon celebrating the legendary artist Ravi Shankar and the mesmerizing instrument, the sitar. The Sitarathon begins with a personal perspective – a special keynote talk as Ravi Shankar’s widow, Sukanya Shankar, appears in conversation with Oliver Craske, Ravi Shankar’s official biographer, reflecting on the musician’s legacy, life and work. Celebrations continue from 3:30pm with a mass public sitar workshop and performance, bringing together all ages and abilities for a collaborative session, showcasing what the sitar is capable of. Bring your own sitar…

Sukanya: The Opera! May 12th Premiere

March 22, 2017 • Ravi Shankar, Exhibitions and Events • No Comments

Ravi Shankar’s long-awaited last musical theater work, “Sukanya: The Opera,” is set to premiere in Leicester, UK on May 12th, 2017. Myth, music and dance meet in this extravagant show, depicting a love story taken from the Sanskrit texts of the Mahabharata. After a terrible mistake leaves the ancient sage Chyavana blinded, the beautiful princess Sukanya finds herself marrying for the sake of her kingdom. A full description of the hard work put into making this production a reality can be found here. Performances will also be held at the Lowry (Salford), Symphony Hall (Birmingham), and Royal Festival Hall (Southbank Centre). Tickets available here.

A Special Message from Sukanya Shankar

December 11, 2016 • Ravi Shankar • No Comments

As we recognize December 11th as the date Ravi Shankar passed away in 2012, and face what seems like an uncertain future for all efforts with humanitarian ethics at their core, we at East Meets West Music pledge to continue to spread the message of peace and virtuosic work of the Maestro. Writing from India, Sukanya Shankar shares her thoughts here: It is four years since my beloved Raviji left his physical abode. I am getting used to his invisible presence in my life. I feel him and hear him constantly, there, in all my activities in one way or another. A few days ago I had gone to a dinner gathering where…

MAYA – Bickram Ghosh’s Dedication to Ravi Shankar

November 11, 2016 • Ravi Shankar, New Releases • No Comments

New release from EMWMusic! Life according to the Hindu philosophy is an illusion. This world conceals the real spiritual world behind a veil. Maya is the veil that conceals this true character of spiritual reality. We strive and struggle through our lives to grasp the true nature of our existence. We travel from childhood to adulthood, through relationships, romance, sorrow and happiness, not realizing that the lives we experience are not our true nature at all. Therein lies the need for a spiritual quest that finally leads us to our destination. Maya is an ode to the beauty of this illusion, a force so strong that…

Ravi Shankar In Hollywood, 1971 – CD Release!

September 2, 2016 • Ravi Shankar, New Releases • No Comments

Earlier this year, the Ravi Shankar Foundation teamed up with Northern Spy Records to offer a special vinyl limited edition of the previously unreleased recording of the Maestro, Ravi Shankar In Hollywood, 1971. Now East Meets West Music and Northern Spy Records are happy to announce a wider release of In Hollywood on CD and digital formats on September 30, 2016. Lovingly remastered, this recording holds beautiful performances of Raga Parameshwari, Dhun, and Raga Sindhi Bhairavi as well as representing the moment of origin for the Concert for Bangladesh, since it was at this morning concert that Ravi Shankar and George Harrison discussed the potential of a benefit concert for those in Bangladesh. The…

Get Your Vinyl! Ravi Shankar: In Hollywood, 1971

April 14, 2016 • Ravi Shankar, New Releases • No Comments

Ravi Shankar, In Hollywood, 1971 will be available at the following stores on Saturday, April 16, 2016 for for Record Store Day. More than an esoteric amusement, vinyl is the original format in which the West discovered the East through the playing of the Maestro. Profits will benefit The Ravi Shankar Foundation, which serves to educate the world about Indian classical music and to preserve the archive of Ravi Shankar, and Record Story Day is a great way to support local businesses. Plus, flipping through the bins you’ll discover some great music! Read more about the release here. Tuscaloosa, AL • Oz Music Phoenix, AZ • Stinkweeds-Phoenix • Zia Enterprises,…

NEW Ravi Vinyl for Record Store Day, April 2016

February 1, 2016 • Ravi Shankar, New Releases • No Comments

EMWM is proud to announce that the Ravi Shankar Foundation has teamed up with Northern-Spy Records to release a new record by the Maestro – Ravi Shankar, In Hollywood, 1971 – presented across 2 LPs, for Record Store Day April 2016. Profits from this release benefit The Ravi Shankar Foundation, which serves to educate the world about Indian classical music and to preserve the archive of Ravi Shankar. The recording is of a morning concert in 1971 at Ravi’s home on Highland Avenue in Hollywood, California with George Harrison in attendance. As Ravi’s wife, Sukanya Shankar, attests in her amazing liner notes, this concert most certainly sowed the seed…