Status Updates From Indian Sun: The Life and Mu...

“What was even more crazy, says Able, “was that his picking hand was above the covers, and the finger that he wore the mizrab on was moving as if he was playing or practicing. I felt bad about complaining now — he was on another level! It wasn’t twitching. His whole hand was moving. He was playing in his sleep.”

‘Ravi was keen to train audiences as well as his students. In a program essay entitled “Good Listening” he appealed for all to be seated on time at Kinnara concerts, “relaxed and receptive”. It was announced beforehand that the doors would be closed precisely on 8:30 p.m. and reopened only between numbers.’

‘Coltrane talked only a little about his own music and had not brought his saxophone, preferring to ask Ravi questions about Indian music. The American was profoundly moved, and Ravi’s exquisite demonstrations on sitar brought him to tears.’

‘Dhrupad is when a raga is unfolded through an unaccompanied, free-tempo opening section known as alap, and then progressed into a jor section with a measured pulse. It had deep spiritual quality. Raga purity was prized, and each musical piece was designed to express one of the nine standard emotions or rasas originally detailed in a two-thousand year old Sanskrit text, the Natya Shastra.’