Extraordinary History of Ravi Shankar's Sitar Concerto No.1

When Andre Previn, an admirer of Ravi Shankar's music, was appointed as the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra in 1968, he invited Ravi Shankar to compose a concerto for Sitar & Orchestra.

It was composed in two & a half months in 1970 & essentially the orchestra was used to play Indian Music. There is minimal counterpoint & harmony. There are four movements based on ragas Khamach, Sindhi Bhairavi, Adana & Manj Khamach. On seeing the first draft of the score, Andre Previn, who in spite of originating the project, never formed much of a bond with Ravi Shankar (like the later Zubin Mehta), began to have some reservations, some of which were resolved.

The premiere took place at the Royal Festival Hall on 28th January 1971. The reviews were mostly positive. The album was recorded at the end of May, & released with arguably the most attractive jacket of all Ravi Shankar's albums. Capitol Records claimed that "It sold like a pop record."

In a cruel twist of fate, the Western detractors were led by Andre Previn himself, (whose idea it was & who conducted it), who later said "The recording is absolute, total, utter s--t. I knew it was nonsense."

In India, in an article published with "The Hindu", dated 29th December 1996, Ustad Vilayat Khan fumed "Your soul will abuse you if you indulge in fusion with Western Orchestras."

In a final astonishing twist of fate, Anupama Bhagawat, a leading sitarist belonging to Ustad Vilayat Khan's Gharana, played this concerto with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra on May, 2022 & described her experience as "fabulous & great"!

Is Extinction the End Of Perfection?

In the Hindu Philosophy, Moksha or Liberation is stated as the goal of life. It also implies escape from the cycle of birth, death & rebirth, assuming the belief in reincarnation. That means the goal of life is to live in such a way as to have no rebirth or no life again. So, to sum up in an (oversimplified?) way, the goal of life is to have no further lives.

On further examination, this paradoxical idea can be applied to other activities also. The perfect law enforcement machinery should be able to ensure that people are naturally law abiding, rendering itself (law enforcement machinery) redundant!

In a perfect healthcare system, the population should be totally healthy & disease-free, rendering hospitals & doctors unnecessary.

Nowadays, it can be observed that both the above mentioned institutions have made themselves so complex & convoluted that one suspects them of becoming self-perpetuating, losing sight that they were initiated primarily to serve the people.

The Biblical saying "Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5) also emphasises the spiritual value of being self-effacing & not being pushful in obtaining worldly goods or honours. (In monastic orders, being singular is "superbia", a cardinal sin.)

The current emphasis on having a low Carbon footprint also underscores the importance of being mindful of the earth's resources & being frugal.

In the field of cinema also, the success of the film editing process is complete when the viewer is completely unaware of the editing.

So one is tempted to generalise that the goal of any system is to tend to make itself extinct in the quest for perfection.