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West Meets East
West Meets East is an album by American violinist Yehudi Menuhin and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, released in Britain in January 1967.[2] It was recorded following their successful duet in June 1966 at the Bath Musical Festival, where they had played some of the same material.[3] The album was issued in America on EMI's Angel Records imprint in June 1967.[4] West Meets East was number 1 on Billboard's Best Selling Classical LP's list for eighteen weeks in 1967 and continued to top that chart through January the following year.[5] It also placed on the mainstream national chart (later the Billboard 200), where it peaked at number 161.[6] In February 1968, the album won the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance,[7][8] the first time that an Asian musician had won a Grammy.[9] This recognition coincided with a period of heightened interest in Indian classical music,[10] and particularly Shankar,[11] as Western pop and rock bands such as the Beatles, the Byrds, the Rolling Stones and Traffic all adopted sitar or other aspects of the genre into their sound.[12][13] In July 1968, Angel Records announced that West Meets East was the fastest selling LP in the history of the label.[14] The album was the first in a trilogy of "West Meets East" collaborations by Menuhin and Shankar,[15] volumes two and three appearing in 1968 and 1976, respectively.[16] The friendship between the two musicians had begun in India in the early 1950s,[17] after which Menuhin had done much to introduce Western audiences to Indian music.[1][18] Musical contentOn the recording, the main performers are accompanied at various points by tabla player Alla Rakha; Menuhin's sister, pianist Hephzibah Menuhin; and Prodyot Sen, on tambura. In addition to Shankar's and Menuhin's liner notes on the album sleeve,[19] musician John Barham supplied a glossary, explaining musical terms such as alap, gat and tala.[20] At the Bath Festival, Barham had translated Shankar's interpretation of Raga Tilang into Western annotation for Menuhin's benefit.[21] When making West Meets East, Shankar rewrote this Tilang-based piece,[22] recording it with Menuhin as "Swara Kakali".[16] The album's opening selection is "Prabhati", a Shankar composition based on Raga Gunakali,[23] and played by Menuhin and Rakha.[16] The fourth selection, filling side two in the LP format, is "Sonata for Violin & Piano No. 3 in A minor, Op. 25", featuring Hephzibah Menuhin.[20] This piece was written by Romanian composer George Enescu, who had been Yehudi Menuhin's teacher.[24] Track listingAll selections by Ravi Shankar except where noted. Side one
Side two Personnel
See alsoReferences
Sources
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