SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: RAVI SHANKAR – SHANKAR FAMILY & FRIENDS

Ravi Shankar
Shankar Family & Friends
Dark Horse/BMG

George Harrison formed Dark Horse Records in 1974, while Apple was collapsing with lawsuits and the official end of The Beatles. His goal was simple, to have a small label where he could introduce the world to new talent and help some old friends. The first two albums released on Dark Horse were Splinter’s The Place I Love and Ravi Shankar’s Shankar Family & Friends. Harrison kept himself very busy, besides running the label and completing his own album at the time, Dark Horse on Apple Records. On Shankar Family & Friends, he called on some old friends to help out, including Tom Scott, Emil Richards, Billy Preston, Ringo Starr and Jim Keltner. Shankar also enlisted help from Indian classical musicians Alla Rakha, Aashish Khan, Shivkumar Sharma, and Hariprasad Chaurasia. The end result was East meets West. While it is predominantly classical Indian music, there are a great many rock and pop elements.

Shankar Family & Friends opens with the incredibly beautiful “I Am Missing You”, sung by Shankar’s sister-in-law, Lakshmi Shankar. Her voice is perfect. It is vulnerable while being very powerful at the same time, and the melody is quite outstanding. At the time Harrison thought it would be a hit single. It should have been. The song is revisited later on side one, and the “reprise” version is much more traditional Indian music, which also works quite nicely and fits in beautifully with the album. It demonstrates Harrison’s ability as a producer and co-arranger along with Shankar, to combine Western pop music with the classical Indian music.

Side Two, “Dreams, Nightmare and Dawn (Music For A Ballet)”, opens with “Overture”. This side is much more traditional Indian music and is not only beautiful but also almost dreamlike at times. Shankar creates a state of consciousness with his music, by using traditional instruments, voice, and some contemporary Western instruments. They all blend together for a wonderful listening experience. It is really one piece. The songs flow into each other and are beautiful. Beautiful melodies float in and out creating an almost dreamlike state.

Dhani Harrison and George’s widow Olivia revived Dark Horse Records in 2019 after it basically wound down in the mid-1980s. Initially the label was focused on previously unreleased Joe Strummer music and Billy Idol. But now, they have started looking at the catalogue which has been unavailable for years. There was a lot of great talent on the label, so it is encouraging to see the older albums rereleased. It is a wise decision to begin with an album that George Harrison held near and dear to his heart. When listening to Shankar Family & Friends, one can understand his love of it.

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