My music library used to boast more than two dozen albums from India, most of which by the Indian sitar 'guru' Ravi Shanker, but because they sounded identical to me, I had volunteered to give them all up.
I was reading the autobiography of him last week, and finding it difficult to decide whether he is an imposter or a real genius, I suddenly missed my Indian music collection. I suppose for an layman of Indian music, there is bound to be queries of how to judge such a 'guru' whose fame has spread to even people who do not listen to much music apart from pop. The only item that I could find that was vaguely related to him was the Concert for George, whose the fist album of the 2-CD collection was dedicated to the ensemble led by Ravi Shanker. By then over 82, his only contribution seemed the utterance that 'I strongly feel that George was with us... I mean how can he not be while those who love him gather together here tonight'... In his place was both his daughter and his wife, with the former acting in the leading role.
The style of the writing is rather diffferent from what I am familiar with and have expected. To him it seemed that the only things worth saying on someone is whether or not s/he was 'nice'... And despite the fact that in the foreword he had already made it clear the book only represented his points of view as honest as it could be, it was hard pressed to say that I can trust him after reading the book, especially on his private life.
Overall, this is a challenge. Both because I hardly know Indian culture, let alone its music, and because this is such a complicated character...
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