| Chants of India | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 6 May 1997 | |||
| Recorded | January–August 1996 | |||
| Studio | Sruthilaya Media Artists Studio,Madras;FPSHOT, Oxfordshire | |||
| Genre | Indian classical,devotional music | |||
| Length | 63:33 | |||
| Label | Angel | |||
| Producer | George Harrison | |||
| Ravi Shankar chronology | ||||
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Chants of India is an album by Indian musicianRavi Shankar released in 1997 onAngel Records. Produced by his friend and sometime collaboratorGeorge Harrison, the album consists ofVedic and otherHindu sacred prayers set to music, marking a departure from Shankar's more familiar work in the field ofHindustani classical music. The lyrical themes of the recorded chants are peace and harmony among nature and all creatures. Sessions for the album took place in the Indian city ofMadras and at Harrison's home inHenley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, following his work onThe Beatles' Anthology (1995).Anoushka Shankar,John Barham,Bikram Ghosh,Tarun Bhatacharaya andRonu Majumdar are among the many musicians who contributed to the recording.
Chants of India was well received by reviewers; author Peter Lavezzoli describes it as "a quiet masterpiece" and "the most fully realized collaboration" by Shankar and Harrison.[1] Shankar considered it to be among the best works of his 60-year career.
In 2010, the album was reissued as part of theDark Horse Records box setCollaborations, which combined various projects undertaken by the two artists, beginning in 1973.Chants of India was the last formal collaboration between Shankar and Harrison, who was diagnosed with cancer shortly after its release. At theConcert for George in November 2002, Shankar incorporated some of the selections fromChants of India, including the album-closing "Sarve Shaam", in a set performed by daughter Anoushka as a tribute to Harrison.
Having maintained a close friendship in the decades since their last official collaboration in 1974,[2][3]Ravi Shankar andGeorge Harrison began working together in 1995 on projects to celebrate Shankar's 75th birthday.[4] Harrison first produced a four-disc career retrospective issued onEMI'sAngel Records,[5]Ravi Shankar: In Celebration (1996),[6] which also included unreleased recordings made by the pair,[7] before serving as editor on Shankar's second autobiography,Raga Mala.[8] When compilingIn Celebration, Shankar and Harrison discussed with Angel Records the possibility of making an album ofVedic chants and otherHindu sacred texts set to music.[8] According to Shankar, the record company were hoping to repeat the commercial success of a recording by "those Spanish monks"[9] –Chant, an album ofGregorian chants by the Benodictine monks of theAbbey of Santo Domingo de Silos, featuring a contemporaryrhythm section.[10][11] Author Simon Leng describes theChants of India project as a "back to the roots" exercise for Harrison, after his production ofRadha Krishna Temple and his own releases such as "My Sweet Lord" and "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" in the 1970s.[10][nb 1]
As far as the words are concerned, they are open now [after 40 years], but the tune I had to give, or add a slight orchestration in the background, was with this very thought that it should match this old sentimental, old spiritual context that it has. At the same time, not be too much, you know? Or sound very ritualistic or fundamentalist or anything like that.[19]
Shankar had grown up in the Hindu holy city ofBenares,[20] where the public chanting of Vedic hymns "[awakened] his passion for music", author Reginald Massey writes,[21] and as a young man during the 1940s he had embraced the concept of NadaBrahma (meaning "Sound is God"), under the strict tutelage of musicguruAllauddin Khan.[22][23] In his liner notes toChants of India, Shankar nevertheless describes the undertaking as "one of the most difficult challenges in my life, as a composer and arranger".[24] Shankar noted the precedents for such a venture: "Sanskrit chants from the Vedas,Upanishads and other scriptures have been recorded by many in India and elsewhere, either in its original form by the Traditional Scholars ... or sung withinraga forms by eminent musicians with accompanying instruments. Some have even attempted to make them more popular by using a semi-classical and commercial approach. I wanted to make a version different from all these, but still maintain the tremendous spiritual force, and purity of theSuktas,Shlokas andMantras, and at the same time make it universally appealing."[24]
Shankar consulted a Dr Nandakumara of theBharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London, regarding the interpretation of the Sanskrit texts.[24] Aside from adapting these ancient texts, Shankar composed new selections for the album[3] – "Prabhujee", "Mangalam", "Svara Mantra" and "Hari Om" – and, as he put it, "tuned them in the same spirit".[24] Peter Lavezzoli, author ofThe Dawn of Indian Music in the West, writes of the album's themes: "The record begins with the traditional invocation toLord Ganesha, continuing through a series of traditional Hindu prayers and chants from theRigveda, Upanishads, andBhagavad Gita."[25] Harrison biographerGary Tillery describes the songs' focus, following the opening invocations, as "peace, love, ecology, and social harmony".[26]
Chants of India reunited Shankar and Harrison with English musician and arrangerJohn Barham.[10] Barham provided Western annotation of Shankar's melodies,[27] a role he had first supplied for Shankar at theBath Music Festival in 1966, when the Indiansitar virtuoso had duetted withYehudi Menuhin.[28]Anoushka Shankar conducted the musicians at the sessions,[24] having made her European performance debut in July 1995 at an official concert to celebrate her father's 75th birthday, held at theBarbican Centre in London.[8]
TheChants of India recording was somewhat complicated by the fact that the record company wanted to release an album of "spiritual" music that would go to number one ... Neither George nor Ravi intended to commercialize it to anything like that extent ... the album is strictly a Ravi Shankar classical Indian record.[10]
The first recording sessions were held in the south Indian city ofMadras in January 1996,[10] at Sruthilaya Media Artists Studio.[27] After a second set of dates there, in April,[24][29] Shankar and Harrison decided to move the project to Harrison's recording facility atFriar Park, his home inHenley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire.[10] According to Tillery, Madras had been chosen in order to "cultivate authenticity", being a music capital of the South Asian region, yet the atmosphere at Sruthilaya "seemed too secular for the aura of spirituality they wanted to create".[30][nb 2] A large cast of local musicians contributed to the recording in Madras, on instruments such asveena, violin, flute, cello,tanpura andmridangam, while the chorus singers (divided into "Indian" and "Western" groups on the sleeve credits) numbered 21.[27]
While in India in April, Harrison visited the holy city ofVrindavan with his Radha Krishna Temple friendsMukunda Goswami and Shyamasundar Das.[31] The pilgrimage inspired him in his current work with Shankar, author Joshua Greene writes,[32] just as a 1974 visit to Vrindavan had been the catalyst for staging Shankar'sMusic Festival from India revue[33] and their joint North American tour that year.[34][35] In July 1996, Shankar and Harrison reconvened at Friar Park, after Harrison had recorded a contribution forCarl Perkins'Go Cat Go! album.[36] The Friar Park sessions forChants of India took place in the house's drawing room, with cables fed through from the studio area above[26] – the same arrangement under which Harrison had produced theMusic Festival from India studio album,[37] in summer 1974.[38]
I like producing Ravi's music, because for me it's educational as well as a joy to work with. It's actually soothing to your soul, and it helps you to focus or transcend.[39]
From 7 July,[40] sessions ran intermittently through to late August.[36] Shankar later toldRolling Stone magazine that he wrote "Mangalam" at this time: "'Mangalam' came to me while I was walking in Friar Park, George's place, where we were recording. I was looking at the trees and the sky, and feeling very elated all of a sudden, wishing everything should be good for everyone, and it just came to me."[9]
Among the participating musicians at Friar Park were Shankar's occasionaltabla playerBikram Ghosh,[1] along withTarun Bhatacharaya (santoor),Ronu Mazumdar (bansuri flute) and Jane Lister (harp).[27][nb 3] While operating mainly in the role of producer, Harrison responded to Shankar's requests to perform on the recordings;[26] Harrison contributed on acoustic guitar, bass,autoharp,vibraphone and percussion, as well as supplying backing vocals.[43] Shankar's wife Sukanya, a trained singer in theKarnatak tradition,[44] was also among the vocalists during what the album sleeve lists as the "London sessions".[27] The recording and remix engineer was John Etchells.[27]
Tillery describes the making ofChants of India as a "labor of love" for Harrison following his participation inthe Beatles'Anthology project,[26] and Barham similarly recalls it as having been "a pleasure working on this beautiful record".[10] In Shankar's recollection, following a playback of some of the tracks,[45] Harrison was so moved that he "embraced me with tears in his eyes and simply said, 'Thank you, Ravi, for this music.'"[46] According to Lavezzoli, the album was one of Shankar's "personal favorite works".[8]
Angel Records issuedChants of India on 6 May 1997 in America, with a UK release following on 1 September.[47][48] The album was marketed as a collaborative work,[49] and Harrison joined Shankar in promoting the release.[50]
These activities included television appearances in New York and Paris,[51] one of which, for America'sVH1 network, aired on 24 July asGeorge & Ravi – Yin & Yang.[52] In what would turn out to be Harrison's final performance on a TV show,[53] he and Shankar discussed the album and their shared experiences, such asthe Concert for Bangladesh (1971).[1] Harrison then accepted an acoustic guitar from hostJohn Fugelsang[54] and performed songs including the just-released "Prabhujee", sung with Ravi and Sukanya Shankar.[55][56]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [57] |
| Billboard | "Spotlight"[58] |
| The Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [59] |
| Entertainment Weekly | A−[60] |
| Uncut | [61] |
Chants of India was critically well-received,[62][63] while commercially it peaked at number 3 onBillboard magazine's Top World Music Albums chart.[64] On release, Josef Woodard ofEntertainment Weekly labelled the album "enchanting" and added: "Unlike Shankar's classical raga recordings, Chants of India is a set of short, colorfully arranged pieces, enjoyable for neophytes and devotees alike. Another jewel from a humble world-music superstar."[60]JazzTimes described it as "a surprisingly colorful and accessible set of 16 pieces".[65] In his review forBillboard, Paul Verna commented that "the project possesses a hypnotic quality reminiscent of the label's enormously popular Gregorian chant recordings" and concluded: "'Chants of India' represents a creative milestone in the life of a veteran artist whose contributions to traditional Indian music cannot be overestimated."[58]
Peter Lavezzoli writes of the album: "Chants of India is a quiet masterpiece, one of the most uplifting and musically engaging recordings of sacred music ... Harrison's production created the ideal setting for each chant, all of which are exquisitely sung, and the album remains the most fully realized collaboration between both artists."[1] Jim Brenholts ofAllMusic similarly praises the work, writing: "Shankar's style and diversity allow him to open doors that are closed to other musicians ... Shankar's compositional and sound-design styles add atmosphere. Harrison's deft touch allows the music to develop and maintain its own integrity. Among records of this nature, this one is special."[57]
Author and formerMojo editorMat Snow considers it to be "perhaps the very best introduction to the enduring creative friendship between the Bengali classical master and the scruff from Liverpool's back streets".[66] Harrison biographerAlan Clayson describesChants of India as a "thoroughly diverting production" that "[balances] sung lyrics as succinct ashaiku and instrumental passages of a quirky complexity vaguely reminiscent ofFrank Zappa".[67] Writing inGoldmine magazine in 2010, Gillian Gaar described the album as "a sound that's akin to 'Within You, Without You'", and "especially soothing and relaxing" due to the devotional nature of the words.[68] Anastasia Tsioulcas ofNPR Music includesChants of India in her list of Shankar's five "essential" works, and writes: "Shankar took Hindu prayers, mantras and scriptural texts and framed them within larger musical settings, incorporating both Indian and European instruments along with voices. The results are transporting – and very beautiful."[69]
The personal and musical friendship between Ravi Shankar and George Harrison ... was powerful enough to make an impact on the large, musical life of the later nineteen sixties and it reverberates, as clearly, even today. I would go as far as to say that today there can scarcely be a musician or composer virtually anywhere in the world that is not aware of, nor been touched by, the fruits of the remarkable encounter between these two.[70]
Chants of India was the last formal musical collaboration between Shankar and Harrison.[10] During promotion for the album in summer 1997,[71] Harrison was diagnosed with cancer, a condition he was then thought to have beaten[72][73] until a near-fatal stabbing by a deranged fan, on 30 December 1999, encouraged its return.[74][75] On 29 November 2002, a year after his death at the age of 58, Shankar included selections fromChants of India in the opening, Indian music portion of theConcert for George,[76] held at theRoyal Albert Hall in London.[44] Anoushka Shankar performed the set, as sitarist and conductor,[77] backed by some of the musicians and singers who had contributed to the Friar Park sessions in 1996, including Sukanya Shankar,[78] Chandrashekhar, M. Balachandar and Lister.[79] The album-closing "Sarve Shaam" appears at the start ofDavid Leland'sConcert for George documentary film (2003),[79] played as Harrison's widowOlivia lights commemorative candles on stage.[44][80]
As part of Ravi Shankar's 90th birthday celebrations in 2010,[81]Dark Horse Records reissuedChants of India in a four-disc box set titledCollaborations.[82] A project overseen and produced by Olivia Harrison,[70][83] the box set also included the albumsShankar Family & Friends (1974) andRavi Shankar's Music Festival from India (1976), together with previously unreleased film of the Music Festival's debut performance in September 1974,[84] directed byStuart Cooper.[85][nb 4]
All songs are traditional, adapted by Ravi Shankar, except where noted.
Madras sessions
| London sessions
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