Raga (film)

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Raga
Directed by Howard Worth
Produced by Howard Worth, Nancy Bacal
Written by Nancy Bacal
Starring Ravi Shankar
George Harrison
Ustad Alauddin Khan
Yehudi Menuhin
Alla Rakha
Salil Chakravorty
Pera Brent
Music by Ravi Shankar
Cinematography James Allen
Editing by Merle Worth
Studio Apple Corps (Apple Films)
Distributed by Apple Films
Release date(s) United States 23 November 1971
Running time 96 mins
Country USA
Language English, Hindi
Raga
Soundtrack album by Ravi Shankar
Released 7 December 1971 (US)
Recorded April−July 1968; April−June 1971
Genre Hindustani classical
Length 39:34
Label Apple
Producer George Harrison

Raga is a 1971 documentary film about the life and music of sitarist Ravi Shankar, with an accompanying soundtrack album produced by George Harrison. Often referred to by its full title Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India, the documentary was financed by The Beatles' Apple Corps and directed by Howard Worth. Delayed due to a lack of finance for the project, and then business complications following the band's break-up, the majority of the film was shot in Bombay during the late 1960s.[1] Reflecting the spirit of that decade somewhat, it was originally to be titled Messenger Out of the East.[2]

Raga was remastered and released on DVD in October 2010, as part of the celebrations for Shankar's ninetieth birthday.

Contents

[edit] George Harrison's involvement

Raga received a limited release, solely in the United States, and even that was only made possible through Harrison's championing of Hindustani music, and of Shankar in particular. According to Worth, the original financier for the project was forced to back out − having been committed to a psychiatric ward − after which, a special screening of Worth's footage had moved Harrison so much that within days he was offering the services of Apple Films as a distributor.[3]

Two years before this, the well-known scene featuring the then Beatle receiving sitar tuition from Shankar had been filmed at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, California,[4] on 10 June 1968.[5] Harrison would later cite this moment and his subsequent chance meeting up with Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix in New York as pivotal in persuading him to return to his first instrument, the guitar: "By this time I had met a few hundred sitar players who were all sensational, yet Ravi had hopes for only one of them that he would be a really great sitar player.[6]

Harrison attended a press screening of Raga at New York's Carnegie Hall Cinema on 22 November 1971, along with former bandmate John Lennon and their wives.[7] Instead of going to the premiere the following night, Harrison appeared on The Dick Cavett Show, where he talked up the film and bemoaned the delay surrounding the release of the live album from the all-star benefit shows organized by himself and Shankar the previous August.[8] (The Concert for Bangla Desh would finally be issued in America four weeks after Raga opened.)

[edit] Soundtrack album

The majority of Raga's music soundtrack was recorded between April and July 1968.[9] It was only in June of 1971 that Harrison, as producer, was able to prepare it for release in conjunction with the movie;[10] working in Los Angeles, this was when he and Shankar put together the plan for the UNICEF shows at Madison Square Garden.[11][12] Harrison's work on the soundtrack was completed in mid July, following sessions for his "Bangla Desh" single.[13] In December, the soundtrack album was released − like the film, in America only.[14]

In 2010, having become a collector's item during the ensuing decades, the Raga soundtrack was finally reissued, in remastered form, by East Meets West Music, tying in with the DVD release. Now with additional tracks, it is available via digital download only.

[edit] Album track listing

[edit] Original 1971 album

All songs by Ravi Shankar, except where noted.

  1. "Dawn to Dusk" – 3:38
  2. "Vedic Hymns" (PD) – 1:30
  3. "Baba Teaching" (PD) – 1:08
  4. "Birth to Death" – 3:10
  5. "Vinus House" – 2:37
  6. "Guru Bramha" – 1:10
  7. "United Nations" (Ravi Shankar−Yehudi Menuhin) – 4:33
  8. "Medley: Raga Parameshwari / Rangeswhari" – 4:31
  9. "Banaras Ghat" – 2:45
  10. "Bombay Studio" – 1:51
  11. "Kinnara School" – 1:51
  12. "Frenzy and Distortion" – 1:06
  13. "Raga Desh" –- 8:50

[edit] 2010 digital download version

  1. "East/West Introductions" – 3:08
  2. "Dawn to Dusk" – 3:41
  3. "Vedic Hymns" – 1:36
  4. "Baba Teaching" – 1:17
  5. "Birth to Death" – 3:15
  6. "Vinus House" – 2:41
  7. "Gurur Bramha" – 1:15
  8. "United Nations" – 4:41
  9. "Medley: Raga Parameshwari / Raga Rangeshwari" – 2:54
  10. "Banaras Ghat" – 1:49
  11. "Bombay Studio" – 2:48
  12. "Kinnara School" – 1:34
  13. "Frenzy and Distortion" – 1:56
  14. "Raga Desh" – 9:02
  15. "The Spirit of the Raga" – 2:33
  16. "What Is a Raga?" – 1:41
  17. "The Seriousness of It" – 3:15

[edit] See also

Portal icon Indian classical music portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ Howard Worth discussing Raga (2010), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VVi6sC54kA (retrieved 15 February 2012).
  2. ^ Alan Clayson, George Harrison, Sanctuary (London, 2003), p. 308.
  3. ^ Worth, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VVi6sC54kA (retrieved 15 February 2012).
  4. ^ George Harrison, I Me Mine, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA, 2002), p. 57.
  5. ^ Keith Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up, 1970−2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2002), p. 54.
  6. ^ Harrison, I Me Mine, p. 57.
  7. ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, p. 54.
  8. ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, p. 55.
  9. ^ Harry Castleman & Walter J. Podrazik, All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography, 1961−1975, Ballantine Books (New York, NY, 1976), p. 107.
  10. ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, p. 36.
  11. ^ Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006), p. 111.
  12. ^ Clayson, George Harrison, p. 308.
  13. ^ Badham, The Beatles Diary Volume 2, p. 36.
  14. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, All Together Now, p. 107.

[edit] External links

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