RAVI AND ANOUSHKA SHANKAR May 15 2005 - Vancouver, BC - Orpheum Theatre

[StoneMtn]

Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka put on a truly enlightening, inspiring, and somewhat sedating concert to a sold-out house at the Orpheum Theatre on Sunday night.

The performers consisted of Ravi and Anoushka Shankar on sitar, accompanied by Tanmoy Bose on the tabla, as well as two students of Ravi whose names I did not catch, and who (I think) were also playing sitars (although much less elaborate than those of the Shankars). The stage was set up in a very interesting manner, covered by a beautiful Indian rug, on which sat the two students at 10:00 and 2:00 dressed in beige and Tanmoy Bose dressed in white seated at 7:00. The Shankars, on the other hand, wore an array of vibrant colours and sat directly in the middle of the stage. The stage arrangement, alone, was enough to make this North American plebeian very much aware that this was a very special event.

Having seen these performers in the past, I can comment on a few differences from a couple of years ago. In particular, Anoushka definitely seems to be coming into her own. Whereas she used to sit somewhat further back on the stage from her dad, she now sits right next to him. As well, she seems to shoulder close to half of the responsibility of performing, whereas she used to essentially back up Ravi. This progression in her career is very impressive, considering she is merely 23-years-old, although she has been playing with her dad for ten years (and holds the distinction of being the only artist in the world trained entirely by her father).

Ravi, I hate to say, seems to be showing his age. Born in 1920 in Varanasi, India (India’s holiest city) it is not surprising that he must now be assisted on and off the stage by his daughter. I think, however, that he came and went under his own power two years ago, and I fear that this may not be a coincidence. I also note that he was the only musician on the stage who did not carry his own instrument on and off, but I speculate that this was more a matter of paying reverence to him as a living legend, rather than an indication that he is unable to handle his own luggage. Another example of this occurred at the end of the show when a procession came on stage to offer flowers to Tanmoy and Anoushka, both of whom simply threw up their hands and stepped aside, pointing at Ravi, who did accept the gift with a beatific smile.

Tanmoy Bose’s contribution to the performance must also not be under-appreciated. That man plays the tabla like no other I have seen, and easily compares with Zakir Hussain and other greats. This is not hard to believe as he comes from a family of music connoisseurs. He received vocal training as a youngster from the late Montu Banarjee and was later trained on the tabla by Kanai Dutta and Pandit Shankar Ghosh.

The first set was “Indian classical music”, whereas the second was “Indian neo-classical”. According to Ravi, this left the musicians with considerably more flexibility in the second set. Now, I would not go so far as to say they “jammed” during second set, but I certainly found it far more accessible than the first. In particular, Bose really shined, going off on those tablas like an Indian Buddy Rich on amphetamines.

The show was a good length, with first set being approximately an hour and a quarter, and second set just under an hour. The crowd was a very interesting mix, and it was amusing to see 85-year-old Indians mingling with 25-year-old, dreadlocked “whiteys”, who appear to have taken ferries over from various obscure Gulf Islands, where I can only speculate how they make their living.

From my own perspective, I have to wonder whether I am cultured enough to truly appreciate a show like this. At the outset of this review, I used the word “sedating” and that was not unintentional. The music was practically hypnotic, and I must admit nearly put me to sleep at some points. In fairness to me, however, I did see many people nodding off, and actually did hear one person loudly snoring. When I wasn’t teetering between semi- and full-consciousness, though, I was “high as a kite” on those tunes, and I think it was the rhythm of the tabla that literally caused hallucinations, such as seeing the shadow around the stage on the wall reverberating like a living wave. (In case you are wondering, these hallucinations were not intentionally, artificially induced by the writer.)

I feel it was an honour to see this performance. I also believe that Anoushka is clearly the heir apparent to her dad, and I think we can expect a long, accomplished career from this young woman. (Of course, my prediction is hardly controversial or particularly astute, considering her lineage as well as the fact that her third recording, Live at Carnegie Hall was nominated for a Grammy in 2001.)

As a final comment, I should simply say that everyone must see these musicians.

Setlist*:

Set One:

Three or Four Raggas

Set Two:

Three more Raggas

Encore:

(nope)

Quote of the Day:

I’ll bet he’d make an awesome banjo player!

* Come on, are you kidding me?