Encyclopedia Of Moog Artists

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Ananda Shankar A pioneering force behind the fusion of Eastern and Western musical traditions, Indian composer and choreographer Ananda Shankar was the son of renowned dancers Uday and Amala Shankar as well as the nephew of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. After studying sitar with Dr.Lalmani Mishra, he traveled to Los Angeles, earning international recognition with a 1970 self-titled release on Reprise which embraced both raga and psychedelia through the use of tabla and mridangam in conjunction with Moog synthesizers and electric guitars. Returning to India, Shankar subsequently created the mudavis, a kind of conceptual performance which presaged the multimedia innovations of the MTV generation in its combination of music, dance and visuals. In addition to scoring a series of films and television projects — winning an Indian National Award for his efforts on the Mrinal Sen feature Chorus — he composed a number of works for the dance troupe helmed by his wife, Tanusree; during the mid-1990s, Shankar's recordings became a common source of samples among West Coast rappers and Anglo-Asian drum-and-bass acts alike, and in 1998 toured Britain with State of Bengal. At just 56, he died of cardiac arrest in Calcutta on March 26, 1999; Walking On was posthumously issued on the Real World label the following year. Review “Walking On” - This is a very groovy release, in the true late-'60s/early-'70s sense of the word. Sitarist Ananda Shankar, the nephew of Ravi Shankar, has been blending Indian instrumentation with Western sounds for decades, using rock and jazz grooves as launching pads for some very inspired jams. His music was recently rediscovered by DJ and producer Sam Zaman, also known as State of Bengal. Zaman put together a group of crack musicians to work with Shankar. The project, as it was now called, appeared at WOMAD and toured up until the time of Shankar's death in March of 1999. There are some wonderfully retro sounds on this disc, as well as some uniquely forward-looking material. "Tori" is pure '60s spy-movie music, with its swirling flute and funky backbeat. If Mike Meyers decides to do a third Austin Powers movie, here's his soundtrack. The slow dance groove of the title track features lots of interplay between Shankar and veena player Dr. Gopal Shankar Misra over a tight drum and bass backdrop. Hopped-up flamenco, reggae, hip-hop, '70s funk, psychedelia, and even a little musique concrète make appearances on other tracks. It's all delivered with lavish abandon and a sense of fun. Dig it. (1970) Ananda Shankar – Jumpin Jack Flash, Snow Flower, Light My Fire, Mamata, Metamorphosis, Sagar, Dance Indra, Raghupati (2000) Walking On – Walking On, Tori, Pluck, Alma Ata, Jungle Symphony, Betelnutters, Tanusree, Throw Down, Love & Passion, Reverse, Streets Of Calcutta


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