ONE of the highlights of this year’s Salisbury Festival in Wiltshire was a concert of classical Indian music by the illustrious Indian sitar player and
composer Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka in Salisbury Cathedral. I caught up with the man rightfully acknowledged as India’s greatest musical ambassador, and described by his late friend George Harrison as “the Godfather of World Music” just before the concert.
Now in his 84th year, Ravi is as committed as ever to touring and
performing. “I am in good health,” Ravi told me, “I think it’s the music that does it - there is a lot physical effort and movement in playing the sitar and I think it keeps me fit.”
Ravi actually began his career as a dancer with the his older brother’s
music and dance troupe in Paris in the 1930s. He began playing the sitar when aged ten but it was meeting another famous musician which led to his devotion to the instrument. “The famous sitar Ustad Allauddin Khan, better known as Buba, joined our troupe for a year and toured with us all over the world,” said Ravi. “That period changed my life - I moved back to India and became Buba’s apprentice as a sitar player and he taught me all he knew. At that time there was no international appreciation of Indian music at all. I was lucky enough to be able to represent Indian music and take it all over the world.”
Ravi completed his musical training in 1944 and became famous as a
performer and composer in India before introducing the whole world to the immense range and spirituality of Indian music. Ravi first attracted the attention of the UK press through his friendship with George Harrison of The Beatles who he first met in the mid-1960s. “It was such a tremendous shock when George died,” said Ravi. “His death was so personal to me - I loved him so much. The Beatles were all good friends of mine but it was George who was so fond of our music. He came over to India and studied the sitar and Indian music with me and took it back to The Beatles.”
Despite a long career spanning six decades during which time he has
recorded around sixty albums, Ravi has lost none of his enthusiasm. “Indian music is so rich,” says Ravi, “that I am still discovering new things. Our music is not a fixed thing, playing with it we grow within ourselves, its’ spontaneity is a whole exciting part of it. I have enjoyed taking Indian music into all kinds of music genres including pop, folk and jazz.”
Ravi is also proud to have brought fresh musical talent into the world via
his daughters Anoushka Shankar and Norah Jones. “I am so thrilled with their success,” enthused Ravi, “Anoushka is still only 21 but she is so talented. She first started playing the sitar when she was nine, but she could do anything - modelling, acting, dancing. Norah too has a God-given talent; in the last six years we have become very close. When she started coming to visit me in California she would play the piano and sing, and I told her it would be wonderful if she could make a recording. Although she was not too keen at first, eventually she did and her album “Come Away With Me” has sold millions of copies all over the world.”
Looking back over his career, Ravi says there are too many highlights to
pick out individual ones, but says his greatest pleasure has been gaining
recognition for what he has done for Indian music. He has received numerous awards and prizes, an honorary knighthood and eleven honorary doctorates, but money, plaudits and success seem to mean little to him. He has certainly put more in than he has taken out and is currently highly committed to his Ravi Shankar Foundation. “We have built a resource centre in New Delhi for researching classical Indian music,” explained Ravi, “ and archiving not only my work but the works of other Indian composers and musicians. It also acts as an educational centre with courses, lectures and conferences, as well as a venue for musical performances. The centre took three years to build and was only finished two weeks ago. There is a lot of work for me to do, and I divide my time between my home in California and New Delhi.” (©Peter Ashton 2003)

Bossa Bebel
Preview by Peter Ashton

        SUPERTROOPERS Real Abba Gold bring the timeless hits of Abba to Eastleigh Summer Festival on Wednesday July 30 when they share the bill with The Drifters.
Four very experienced entertainers make up Real Abba Gold. Playing the
part of brunette Frida is Jennie Fitzgerald who progressed from guesting with dance bands to a solo career which has taken her around the world working with artists like Freddie Starr, David Essex and Mike Reid. She has also acted in pantomimes and appeared in television shows and commercials.
Kevin Locke becomes Bjorn as soon as he puts on his Abba costume. Kevin has been playing music since he was four. Classically trained on violin and piano, he is a former Leader of The London Schools' Symphony Orchestra. He later became a bass guitarist, a songwriter, producer, arranger and actor. He has appeared on “Never Mind The Buzzcocks, “Hornblower” and in the Terry Jones film "The Wind In The Willows."
Lindsay Elliot a former drummer with Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel adopts the persona of Benny in Real Abba Gold. An all round musician who also sings and plays keyboards, Lindsay has also worked with Aha, Kate Bush and Midge Ure and is also a talented songwriter and actor.
The "youngster" of the band is Jayne Ashley who joined the band in 1999.
She makes a convincing blonde Agnetha, and has a degree in music. She also studied drums and percussion and has sung with big bands, cover bands and as a solo singer in theatres and cruise ships. The official drummer with Real Abba Gold is Dave Zubrasky klnown in the business as "The Guvnor", Dave used to play with the late rocker Billy Fury, and the chart-band Guys And Dolls, and is also a respected drum teacher.
Tickets priced £15 are available from The Point Arts Centre, Eastleigh
(023 8065 2333) or The Brook, Southampton (023 8055 5366) See also www.eastleighfestival.co.uk to order tickets online. (©Peter Ashton 2003)