India Still Meets West in Shankar’s Playing

Ravi Shankar, now in his 70s, looked small and a bit frail when he came on stage at the Orange County Performing Arts Center on Sunday night. But when he picked up his sitar and began to play, as masterfully as ever, he once again confirmed his role as the primary champion of Indian classical music, the performer who literally brought this complex, often esoteric art form into Western consciousness.

As is typical in his performances in large venues outside India, the program was devoted to maintaining “a respect for the tradition without making it sound strange for listeners.” Toward that end, he chose three ragas with intervals friendly to Western ears, and two fairly accessible talas (or rhythmic cycles).

Equally significant, the program was also concerned with a goal that has become increasingly vital to Shankar--advancing the career of his daughter and protegee, sitarist Anoushka Shankar.

The net result of this dual focus was a concert somewhat less classically oriented than his performances of the past. In the two ragas performed in the opening half of the program, it was only in the alap sections--always the most intimate arenas for personal expression--that Shankar became one with the music, undistracted by his surroundings.

At other times, his concentration more often centered on Anoushka Shankar, who was continually responsive to her father, as well, making for a fascinating familial--if not always compellingly musical--interaction. Although the younger Shankar displayed virtuosic technique and an imaginative improvisational sense, she is, at 16, still learning.

The final segment of an Indian classical performance is often given over to a thumri, a light, romantically oriented style of music. And Shankar used the opportunity to emphasize the music’s accessibility, via a vigorous series of exchanges, including tabla solos by Arup Chattopadhyay and Bikram Ghosh, back-and-forth sitar dialogues and such relatively uncharacteristic devices as snapped string accents and harmony lines between the two sitars.

If the music lacked the sheer creative intensity of Shankar’s classic outings with tabla player Alla Rakha, it nonetheless served as an entertaining introduction to Indian classical music. And a packed house audience, clearly aware of Shankar’s legendary status, was content with what they heard, greeting every raga with cheers and standing ovations.