The Whole Music Experience

World   Ravi Shankar   The Best of...   Arc Music I’m sitting here listening to Raga Mian Ki Malhar which tells a story in a way about the roots of India’s musical dynasty.  Each Indian classical raga corresponds with a season, time of day, or mood.  This particular raga, which moves at a slow to medium pace, represents the rainy season and I’m thinking about the appropriateness of listening to a monsoon raga as I watch late winter rain fall here in the Pacific Northwest.  My mood matches this raga’s sentiments, but at least the late Ravi Shankar gives such a fiery performance on the compilation The Best of Ravi Shankar that by the end of th is raga (which does pick up speed and intensity in the way that a stream picks up velocity to become a raging river), I feel invigorated.     I’m not a Ravi Shankar or Indian classical music scholar, but I'm someone who enjoys international music on a regular basis and who has...