Family Shankar brings the funk

The wrinkles may be starting to show, and the hair starting to thin, but Ravi Shankar still has the magic touch when it comes to inspiring audiences with his music. In what may well be his last official tour, Ravi Shankar, along with Anoushka Shankar and their ensemble of talented Indian musicians, brought Festival of India III to Duke.

The performers for the evening consisted of twelve widely acclaimed artists, hailing primarily from India and the United Kingdom. Among the accomplished musicians were experienced instrumentalists and disciples alike, including Tanmoy Bose (tabla), Partho Sarothy (sarod), Ravichandra Kulur (flute), Neyveli S. Radhakrishna (violin), Swarnima Gusain (vocal), Hari Sivanesan (veena), Pirashanna Thevarajah (mridangam/percussion), Sanjeev Shankar (shahnai), Aditya Prakash (vocal), Nick Able (sitar), and Anoushka and Ravi Shankar (sitar).

Ravi Shankar's protege and daughter, Anoushka Shankar, led and conducted the first half of the program. It opened with "Vandana," a combination of slow rhythms and chants that served to give prayers to Lord Ganesha, Goddess Saraswati, the Guru and teacher, and finally all forms of yoga and awakening of the Kundalini (creative energy). "Tarana," which followed, was a much livelier piece in Teental of 16 beats and featured solos from every performer, using many different traditional Indian instruments.

The song started out as instrumental. Voices then smoothly blended into the melody, singing syllables in the style of the conventional raga. Rhythms passed back and forth across the stage, before concluding with an enchanting solo from Anoushka on her sitar. The group performed two additional pieces, "Sadhya Raga" and "Viraha Milan" before Pandit Ravi Shankar took over the limelight.

The audience received the "Godfather of World Music" with a standing ovation and thunderous applause. Ravi Shankar greeted his listeners as "friends," and proceeded to perform two classical Indian pieces with a smaller group of accompanists (Anoushka Shankar and Tanmoy Bose). Unlike the first half of the program, which consisted largely of more modern, composed music, ninety percent of the second half's music was completely improvised, according to sitarist Nick Able. Although a raga has certain essential elements that define it structurally, the most prominent feature is that it should please the minds of the listeners at the very moment it is being performed.

Ravi Shankar began with "Raga Bhimpalasi," a very slow, meticulous piece in seven beats, broken into three, two and two. Although it paid tribute to the true forms of classical music in India, this piece was more difficult for Western music enthusiasts to appreciate.

But the final act, "Pancham Se Gara," blew the audience away. The structure of this semi-classical piece granted the artists more freedom, allowing them to incorporate excerpts from popular folk songs-all while retaining the classical nature of the theme defining the raga. The finale also highlighted a well-known attribute of the 85-year-old sitarist-his affable sense of humor. The exchanges between father and daughter were playful and the performers were all smiles, creating a lighthearted atmosphere for the end of the program.

Ravi Shankar took leave of the stage just as he had entered, with a long-lasting standing ovation.