Earliest records of Pt. Ravi Shankar

These, though not heard frequently now, are perfect little gems from the early part of his career. They were issued presumably on 78 rpm shellac records prevalent in those days, playing for about 3 minutes on each side. They were later reissued on four 45 rpm extended play (EP) records, each carrying two ragas on each side.

The 16 ragas are, Marwa, Hemant, Yamani Bilaval, Prach, Sindhu Bhairavi, Tilak Shyam, Nat Bhairav, Puriya Kalyan, Bhatiyar, Hameer, Kirawani, Rasiya, Ahir Lalit, Panchami se Gara, Yamani Manj & Bengali Kirtan. Subsequently, several of these pieces were issued in LP & CD format also.

Apart from these, 4 EPs were issued, playing 6 minutes each side, containing ragas Kaushi Bhairav, Khamach, Todi, Manj Khamach (last two with Ali Akbar Khan), Megh, Nand, Janasammohini & Mishra Gara.

In addition, during Bangladesh war of 1971, a special EP was issued with Panditji himself singing two Bengali songs on one side & a duet with Ali Akbar Khan featuring Raga Mishra Jhinjoti on the other.

All these ragas, though of limited duration, perfectly showcase Panditji's genius in compressing the essence of the ragas in a brief time & are unmissable by connoisseurs.

Work, Profession or Albatross?

An albatross is something that hangs around a person's neck, inhibiting his/her freedom. Now one's work or profession, especially in the urban areas where commuting is becoming more time-consuming & nerve wracking, has become an albatross, preventing one from having any other interests or social activities. Instead of providing a livelihood for a person to lead a full life, it is stultifying & suffocating human dignity.

Art, Culture & Sports which alone distinguish man from animals are banished from everyday life, effectively dehumanising man into an economically productive robot. Now itself, one listens with increasing frequency,  about burnout, heart attacks & even suicides as if life is only possible under these toxic  work conditions. Posterity can only tell what calamitous effect this can have on future generations. Corporate Culture, the main stay of "non-compassionate" capitalism, limping from quarterly to ever higher quarterly returns, is aiming to return humanity to the dark ages of the industrial revolution, where human resource was considered the cheapest of all natural resources.

Return of the "Golden Calf" in the 21st Century?

The Golden Calf story appears both in the Bible, Exodus (32-4 & 32-8) & the Quran (7-148). When Moses had gone to Mount Sinai, impatient at his return, his people created a golden calf & began worshipping it. It can of be considered a symbol of materialism. On his return, Moses destroyed it & preached the correct way to human happiness.

In the Bible, Luke (16:15) also reiterates "what is exalted in the eyes of men, (namely WEALTH, STATUS), is an abhorrence in the eyes of  God." In Matthew (19:24), Jesus Christ says "It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God."

The Quran says "Your hearts are taken up with worldly gain from the cradle to the grave." (102:1). "Your wealth & children are but a temptation.(64:15). "The life of this world is but a sport & diversion." (47:36).

In Bhagavadgita, the quintessential Hindu text, in chapter 16, verse 13, one is cautioned against hankering after wealth. The Saint Sri Ramakrishna also preached against excessive attachment to family & wealth, like in the Quran (64:15) above.

Curiously, in the tale "Hans in Luck" by the Brothers Grimm, Hans, after serving his master faithfully for seven years, is given a lump of gold, as big as his head, as his wages. By a series of incidents, he exchanges his gold for various other objects, finally ending with some stones. By an accident, the stones fall into a well. Then Hans, cries out "There is no man under the sun so fortunate as I" & runs home free of any burden, as happy as Christian in "The Pilgrim's Progress" was, when he got rid of his burden.

Even with all these examples, the people in the twenty first century have again started to worship the "Golden Calf" of materialism under the euphemisms of "meeting targets" & having "good quarterly returns." 

Jonathan Swift & Current Writing

Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, famous as the author of "Gulliver's Travels." He also wrote "The Battle of Books" (1704) pitting the ancient (classical) against the modern (later) writers. The ancients were Virgil, Cicero, Homer & Aristotle. The later writers were considered moderns. Being politically correct, Swift cleverly avoided mentioning the outcome of the battle but made his ideas abundantly clear by stating that "modern learning made its practitioners not less, but more, barbarous, conceited & inhumane."

How relevant his ideas are even today, has become blindingly evident by examining current writings. Earlier writers used to write only about subjects which they loved, after reading everything about them. Now putting the cart before the horse, they start writing "with a clean slate" as it were, collecting data as they go along. There is neither love for the subject nor exhaustive prior knowledge of it.  Added to this is the absence of reading for pleasure, which makes for functional use of the language rather than an idiomatic one, rendering the writing utterly lifeless. This writing "for order" (with both eyes only on  publication!) has produced an abundance of mediocre writing, devoid of any soul or spirit.

Dense Music of Bruckner & Wakeman

Anton Bruckner (1824-96) was an Austrian Catholic composer whose music, including nine symphonies was known for dissonances, unprepared modulations & roving harmonies. They were also very dense in their orchestrations. His name is also curiously linked with Haydn & Mozart in this way. Haydn dedicated his Symphony No.48 to the Empress of Austria, Marie Therese, which carries her name. She also reportedly took the infant Mozart on her lap, after one of his virtuosic performances. Bruckner, after a successful rehearsal of his fourth symphony, in 1881, presented a "Marie Therese Thaler" (a commemorative coin bearing her effigy) to Hans Richter, the conductor.

Similarly dense is the music of Rick Wakeman, (1949-) a classical, rock & jazz fusion musician. He was classically trained in the Royal College of Music & later was a member of "Yes", a progressive rock band. After that he started his solo career with a bang, recording "The Six Wives of Henry the VIII",(1973) giving the musical piçtures of the six unfortunate ladies! A later LP named "Criminal Record" gave sonic pictures of famous criminals. These were followed by more than 100 albums. More than six feet tall & with enormous hands spanning the keyboards, he is a virtuoso on the synthesizer.