DesertFox
Well-Known Member
I'm not a massive fan of sitar music as such, and generally don't go for any of this spiritual nonsense, so I wasn't expecting great things on a personal level from the performance of living legend Ravi Shankar in Tucson tonight. Well bugger me, it was actually one of the best things I've seen in ages!
The guy is 86 years old. Yes, that's EIGHTY SIX! In the unlikely event that I'm still alive at 86 I'd be pretty happy just not shitting in my pants every day. But yer man is un-be-lievable on the sitar - his fingers were a blur. They must be too busy to get arthritic...
And he was almost overshadowed by his gorgeous daughter, the 25 year old (as they say over here, do the math) Anoushka, half-sister of the rather more famous Norah Jones (who is Ravi's daughter as well). Anoushka was at least as good as they dueled with sitar's ala Deliverance.
I say one of the best things I've "seen" in ages, but I had my eyes closed for at least half of it, as did everybody else. I've never known such a hushed, motionless audience before. As one of the guys I went with said, it was the very meaning of the word transcendental. When I turned to look at the crowd at one point I half expected to see most of them hovering a couple of feet above their seats! The last "song" went on for about 20 minutes and by the end I was so far gone that after he left the stage (very slowly!!) I couldn't move for a couple of minutes for fear of falling over. Last time I felt like that was after a Leftfield gig about seven years ago. Mind you, that was a completely different experience altogether...
I'd normally be recommending reggae or techno gigs, but if you get a chance, you must go and see him. Don't leave it too long, mind... we were wondering if we'd get our money back in the event of him croaking before the show!
The guy is 86 years old. Yes, that's EIGHTY SIX! In the unlikely event that I'm still alive at 86 I'd be pretty happy just not shitting in my pants every day. But yer man is un-be-lievable on the sitar - his fingers were a blur. They must be too busy to get arthritic...
And he was almost overshadowed by his gorgeous daughter, the 25 year old (as they say over here, do the math) Anoushka, half-sister of the rather more famous Norah Jones (who is Ravi's daughter as well). Anoushka was at least as good as they dueled with sitar's ala Deliverance.
I say one of the best things I've "seen" in ages, but I had my eyes closed for at least half of it, as did everybody else. I've never known such a hushed, motionless audience before. As one of the guys I went with said, it was the very meaning of the word transcendental. When I turned to look at the crowd at one point I half expected to see most of them hovering a couple of feet above their seats! The last "song" went on for about 20 minutes and by the end I was so far gone that after he left the stage (very slowly!!) I couldn't move for a couple of minutes for fear of falling over. Last time I felt like that was after a Leftfield gig about seven years ago. Mind you, that was a completely different experience altogether...
I'd normally be recommending reggae or techno gigs, but if you get a chance, you must go and see him. Don't leave it too long, mind... we were wondering if we'd get our money back in the event of him croaking before the show!
