THIS IS A RARE AND USED ITEM. IT IS NOT MANUFACTURED ANYMORE. NO RETURNS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

OM SHANTI!

‘Manoharini’ is Ravi Shankar’s homage to the memory of his late elder brother, the one and only Uday Shankar.

This thematic composition ‘Manoharini’ was specially conceived by Ravi Shankar for the exotic audio visual presentation at the Uday Utsav ’83 at Delhi. Alan Kozlowski and Sandra Hay were responsible for the visual aspects of the audio visual show, which was indeed and unforgettable experience.

Here’s what Ravi Shankar has to say about his ‘Manoharini’. If we look back, we shall find that in ancient India, religion formed the nucleus around which revolved all the collaterals of living. Small wonder that religion had such a profound influence on all walks of Indian life…. Be it different forms of art or the way of living. The literary and the artistic evidence of the olden times bear testimony to this fact. After the Vedas and the Upnishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata followed the great devotional treatise of Shankaracharya. On the other hand there were the poignant works of Vatsayana (Kamasutra), Kalidasa (Meghdoot) and Jaideva (Geet Govindam), stepped in romanticism, sensuality and emotionalism. In the immortal artistic expressions of the temple caves of Ajanta and Ellora, in the explicit sculptures of Konarak and Khajuraho, one perceives again the multifaceted manifestations of romanticism and eroticism. This clearly indicates that our creative artists of the past maintained an ideal balance between spiritualism and sensuality, a perfect rhythm between emotionalism and eroticism.

With help of musical imageries, I have tried to show some glimpses of our cultural heritage. Following the song ‘Hey Shyam’, a contemporary composition of the age old Radha-Krishna love theme, is the section titled ‘Romance to Holocaust’. This segment gradually depicts the pitiful transformation of the romantic pursuits of the young and hopeful into gnawing carnal desires…greed…pollution…hunger…poverty…crime…violence…war and then the ultimate annihilation – ‘nuclear explosion’. 

Shankracharya’s Bhaja Govindam’ as the grand finale is like soothing balm on the tortured soul. It does not propagate religion as the path that ends all conflicts but reinforces the faith that the solution lies in the quest to find inner peace, and in loving.

SIDE ONE

SITAR VRIND – Sitar Ensemble

Raga Tilak Shyam

Aochar, Jor and Gat in Teental

A short introduction played on four sitars precedes Ravi Shankar’s enthrailing rendering of Tilak Shyam, and enchanting evening raga created by him way back in 1949. This beautiful raga is a combination of two traditional ragas – Tilak Kamod and Shyam Kalyan. Two identical passages within the octave, PNSRGS and RMPDNP is the highlight of this raga.

Ravi Shankar begins with Aochar (short improvised Alap). The Rasa (principle mood) of the raga is Shringara (romanticism with a tinge of eroticism). From ‘Jor’ onward to the ‘Jhala’ in the end, the four disciples play more or less in a uniform ‘Bandish’ (a fixed line) – a composition in the western sense, with a few exciting ‘Upaj’ (improvisations) by their Guru.

There are various rhythmic variations in the Tan portions within the Gat, ranging from tisram (6/8), misram(7/8) and ‘dugun’ fast tans. All the tans end with exciting ‘Tihais’.

SIDE TWO

MANOHARINI

A composition by Ravi Shankar with Voice and Orchestra.

1.     Vandana in traditional Sanskrit Lyrics (invocation)

A – Omar

B- Ganesh Vandana

C – Saraswati Vandana

D – Guru Vandana

2.     Bhajan (devotional song) – Bhajan mana Gao” (Lyric – Ravi Shankar)

3.     “Rati Sukha Sare” – song from Geeta Govindam (lyric by Jaideva, 12th Century)

4.     “Hey Shyam” (lyric by Ravi Shankar)

5.     Romance to holocaust

6.     6. “Bhaja Govindam” (lyric by Shankracharya, 8th Century)

Artists: 

Ravi Shankar (Sitar), Kartick Kumar (Sitar), Deepak Chaudhury (Sitar), Sunil das (Sitar), Shubhendra (Sitar), Ishwar Lal (Tabla), Kumar Bose (Tabla), Partho (Tanpura), Tarun (Tanpura), Bulki (Tanpura), Shyama (Tanpura)