HOW MUCH OF THIS IS IMPROVISED? // Ananda Shankar - Streets of Calcutta // Composer Reaction

[@SpeedOfThought1111]

He is the nephew of the sitar god Ravi Shankar who is the guy that popularized the sitar and Indian music in the 50's and 60's. I'm surprised you haven't reacted to any of his stuff yet. You should see something from his original Monterey Pop festival performance. Ananda also travelled to America and I was surprised to learn just now that he even played with Jimi Hendrix. But yeah he was basically the guy who started incorporating American music with Indian including some covers of popular rock songs of the day. He definitely influenced a lot of people, like Trey Spruance the original guitarist of Mr. Bungle and later Secret Chiefs 3 (who you definitely need to check out too).

[@majorgruber5925]

How is it they didn't manage to fit a didgeridoo into this, too? So many traditions tossed into this mix! That flute might have been something like a ney, end blown and long (a difficult instrument to play, at least for me).

[@rudymeixell3426]

I think you should try to think more in terms of the different musical strata which exist within foreign cultures. Calling it all folk music is too much of a broad brush. There are other cultures that have a classical tradition (or at least a court music tradition, or an art music tradition--something which is somehow "higher"); a folk tradition; a popular tradition, after mass mediation; and maybe an experimental "tradition." I tend to doubt that music which requires conservatory training should be considered folk music. Regardless, many other cultures do divide their music into different strata, and I think it's worth thinking about how these strata function in those societies. I edited this comment down to try to make it less preachy. I hope it worked.