Venue:Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver
Date:8 October, 2002
Reviewer: June Heywood
The line-up for "rush" tickets snaked around the block but
I doubt if any of these hopefuls made it into the Orpheum on Tuesday evening
as the auditorium was packed with people who had purchased their tickets much
earlier. The couple sitting behind me had flown over from Germany to attend
this (the only Canadian) concert to be given by Legendary Sitar Virtuoso Ravi
Shankar and his 22-year old daughter Anoushka Shankar.
In a bright orange sari, her long wavy hair tied back, Ms Shankar embodied a
young woman of grace and beauty between two cultures. The fingers of her left
hand skipped up and down the long-necked sitar to create the sound of gentle rain,
deep sorrow, laughter, and running feet. At the end of her first solo she took the
loud applause with obvious humility.
Huge applause also followed the abrupt, loud ending by Bikram Ghosh and Tanmoy
Bose the guest tabla players at the end of the second piece. Tabla is the overall
term for two drums which are played as accompaniment to North Indian music and dance.
With head wobbles to express their pleasure and appreciation for one another's improvisation,
Mr Ghosh and Mr Bose wove intricate rhythms with the base of their palms as their fingers
flew with great variations in sound on the tops and sides of their instruments. In the
background, two students gave the essential drone to all Indian music on their four-stringed
instruments.
After the intermission, knighted 82 year old Ravi Shankar followed his daughter and the
other musicians onto the stage. This "Godfather of World Music" as the late George
Harrison called him, dedicated the program "to Daniel Pearl (the assassinated American
journalist). The first piece Ravi Shankar played with his eyes shut. It sounded like
a lament with squeaks of sorrow that made the tabla players shake their heads in admiration.
Anoushka, the only person to be completely trained by her father, kept her eyes on him as
his left-hand fingers skimmed the strings. With each unvoiced command, her nimble fingers
joined his. Together their two sitar blended as one to honour the slain journalist.
There were a couple of glitches in the show. The sound person was asked on a few occasions
to turn up the tabla mikes and both sitars took time to tune. During an exceptionally long
wait, Ravi Shankar quipped, "We all need to tune our discordant notes to get in tune properly.
As the second half of the program progressed, the audience whooped as the sound was turned up.
The ragas and folk tunes flowed from the sitars as though the music had rushed in from all
over the East. The sound of the full, throaty tablas interchanged with the players beating
time with their palms together and then the back of a hand on the palm. Fingers were fleet
as bodies and instruments talked then were still. Instantly, there was a standing ovation.
Despite the roar of the crowd for an encore, none was given. It was past 11 pm and Mr Shankar,
"India's most esteemed musical ambassador" was visibly tired.
As a performer, composer, teacher, and writer, Mr Shankar has done more to bring Indian music to
the West than anyone. Since the 1960's, he has collaborated with musicians of different gendres
such as the Beatles, John Coltrane, and Yehudi Menuhin. This may have been Mr Shankar's last
Canadian concert but his influence on music is assured with worldwide audiences from all generations.
Anoushka's career is blossoming. She already has a strong international reputation and she is
poised to carry her father's legacy forward as one of the most creative and influential figures
in the music world. The past meets the present and the future is assured. The Shankar father
and daughter have come full circle.
© 2002 June Heywood