The American embrace of Indian music in the Sixties centered around two of India’s master musicians, Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. Both toured widely in North America during the era; and while Shankar received greater notoriety through his association with John Coltrane and George Harrison, his brother-in-law Khan, who played the smaller sarod rather than the sitar, was considered if anything a more intense and virtuosic performer. The four ragas included in this collection come from two of the albums of Khan’s music released by Prestige at the time, albums that played a major role in familiarizing American audiences with another culture’s exceptional music.

Raga Chandranandan, Raga Bhairavi, Raga Ramdasi Malhar, Raga Malika