West Meets East | |
Type: | studio |
Artist: | Yehudi Menuhin and Ravi Shankar |
Cover: | West Meets East 1966 album cover.jpg |
Released: | January 1967 |
Recorded: | 1966 |
Genre: | Hindustani classical |
Length: | 48:47 |
Label: | HMV, Angel |
Next Title: | West Meets East, Volume 2 |
Next Year: | 1968 |
West Meets East is an album by American violinist Yehudi Menuhin and Indian sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, released in Britain in January 1967.[1] It was recorded following their successful duet in June 1966 at the Bath Musical Festival, where they had played some of the same material.[2]
The album was issued in America on EMI's Angel Records imprint in June 1967.[3] West Meets East was number 1 on Billboards Best Selling Classical LP's list for eighteen weeks in 1967 and continued to top that chart through January the following year.[4] It also placed on the mainstream national chart (later the Billboard 200), where it peaked at number 161.[5] In February 1968, the album won the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance,[6] [7] the first time that an Asian musician had won a Grammy.[8] This recognition coincided with a period of heightened interest in Indian classical music,[9] and particularly Shankar,[10] 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.[11] [12]
In July 1968, Angel Records announced that West Meets East was the fastest selling LP in the history of the label.[13] The album was the first in a trilogy of "West Meets East" collaborations by Menuhin and Shankar,[14] volumes two and three appearing in 1968 and 1976, respectively.[15] The friendship between the two musicians had begun in India in the early 1950s,[16] after which Menuhin had done much to introduce Western audiences to Indian music.[17] [18]
On 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. At the Bath Festival, Barham had translated Shankar's interpretation of Raga Tilang into Western annotation for Menuhin's benefit.[20] When making West Meets East, Shankar rewrote this Tilang-based piece,[21] recording it with Menuhin as "Swara Kakali". The album's opening selection is "Prabhati", a Shankar composition based on Raga Gunakali,[22] and played by Menuhin and Rakha.
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.[23] This piece was written by Romanian composer George Enescu, who had been Yehudi Menuhin's teacher.[24]
All selections by Ravi Shankar except where noted.
Side one
Side two