My journey into Indian music and other related stories

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by Sw Ravi

I started my journey into Indian music as an eleven year-old, listening to Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan's Raga - a whole side of George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh triple album. I imagine this was also the introduction for many others of my generation to pure Indian classical music, as opposed to Indian-influenced Beatles songs. Eight years later, in my home town of Manchester I hooked up with musicians from the large local Asian community for some of my first recordings. I was playing guitar and they were playing tablas and Indian harmonium. But it was the spiritual teacher Osho and his sannyas movement that were the starting point for a deeper understanding and appreciation of Indian music.

Osho often referred to Indian classical music's various ascetic and spiritual qualities during his discourses. I teamed up with sannyasins Prem Joshua, Chinmaya and Neera in 1990 and had my first experience of playing with instruments such as sitar, sarod and bansuri. I also became familiar with the Indian raga system, whilst adopting some of the ragas in my playing of the kora (West-African harp) - my main instrument. Out of this meeting two CDs were released on New Earth Records - No Goal but the Path and Tribal Gathering.

In 1996 I was asked to record two leading Indian classical musicians, Tarun Bhattacharya (santoor) and Ronu Majumdar (bansuri), at my home studio. They were in the UK to play on Ravi Shankar's new album Vedic Chants, to be recorded at George Harrison's studio in Henley-on-Thames. I witnessed an astonishing performance from them and afterwards Tarun and Ronu approached me with the idea of recording a fusion album together. We started on it immediately, finishing the album in twenty-four hours. The resulting CD was released on my ORI label and was well received by listeners and the music press The George Harrison connection continued a year later when I was invited to play a concert in the living room of a rock star's mansion, (the drummer for Deep Purple) also in Henley-on-Thames. The 'quiet' Beatle himself sneaked into the room just before I was about to perform. When I had finished the concert, which had been interspersed with snippets of the famous Beatles wit, he respectfully came up and we chatted about all things Indian and my kora.

A year later, while waiting in the grand circular corridors of the Royal Albert Hall I had another encounter with George Harrison. He appeared in the corridor, and when he saw me, placed his outstretched palm firmly against my forehead. In all earnestness and in that thick Liverpool accent, he said 'You are a beautiful soul. Bless you.' I returned a little startled to my seat to watch the thirtieth anniversary of Deep Purple with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. My encounters and conversations with George have helped me to take a peek beyond the veil of myth that surrounds such an icon. It was transparent to me that his massive wealth had not brought happiness, but there was still a deep and genuine respect for music, musicians and the sacred.

I reunited with Tarun Bhattacharya when he invited me to play some concerts with him in West Bengal, Delhi and Benares. It was an illuminating experience, as I had never before played to audiences outside of the West. The audience members showed themselves to be keen listeners with highly trained ears by the response given when something intricate was played. It did take a while to get used to my feet being touched, even though I was aware that the gesture is simply a sign of respect in Indian culture. My favorite concert was one that took place deep in the heart of the Bengali countryside. Many people there do not even have electricity in their homes, but they still seemed to have sophisticated listening skills. The follow up to 'Forest of Bliss' was recently released, to great acclaim, on ARC Music. Titled 'The Afro-Indian Project - Travels with the African Kora in India', it features Tarun Bhattacharya again, as well as Ravi Shankar's tabla player, Bikram Ghosh. The legendary record producer John Leckie, an old friend from sannyas days, co-recorded and produced the album.

Another ongoing Indian-influenced project has been two albums with sister and fellow musician and lover of Osho, Suvarna. The latest album, 'Energia' will be released on Etherean Music this fall. This music incorporates chill-out grooves, ragas, different tabla rythms, chants and Suvarna's voice and electric violin. The project, called Infinity, has been a beautiful and healing family experience.