Song for Everyone
£5.44
- Paper Nut
- I Know
- Watching You
- Conversation
- Song For Everyone
- Let s Go Home
- Rest In Peace
A rhythmic melodic fusion par excellence - This re-release has made generally available a recording which compares favourably with Zakir Hussain s Making Music and Jan Garbarek s Ragas and Sagas but, for some reason is not as well known as it should be. Claims that this created World Music are overstated - Shankar played live with Echo & The Bunnymen two years prior to this, shortly before they played with the Burundi Drummers at WOMAD and Talking Heads I Zimbra came out in 1979. Such quibbles aside, this was undeniably an early example of what came to be classified as World Music and a very fine example at that. On the first couple of listens, Garbarek (who is the dominant instrument), is slighlty synthetic, epecially on the opening Paper Nut . If truth be told, I would have appreciated it if Garbarek were mixed down and Shankar mixed up but these technical concerns soon pass and in due course the ensemble of sax,double violin, tabla and percussion seems both distinctive and utterly natural. The highlight is the 13 minute centre piece Watching You which features Shankar s most fervent playing and fantastic interplay between Hussain and Gurtu.