Released on 18/10/10. If the Sixties was the period when the West s fascination with Indian music and culture blossomed to its fullest extent, then the seeds of that fascination were planted in the previous decade with the release - in both Britain and the United States - of the formative albums by the great emissaries of Indian music, Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar. Ali Akbar Khan was, and remains, the master of the sarod a 25- stringed instrument of the lute family who, beginning at the age of three, was taught by his father over a period of some 20 years. Among his father s fellow students at one point was the 18-yearold sitar player Ravi Shankar, with whom Ali Akbar came to share a lifelong devotion to teaching and performance around the world, even into his eighties.

As young men, the two learned together like brothers, inspiring each other to greater heights, the celebration of which manifests itself in such jugalbandis (musical duos) as the electrifying performances that are the centrepiece of this edition. Hindustani classical singer Ustad Amir Khan was one of the greatest musicians India has produced. His sublime Raga Marwa (featured here) was described by Ravi Shankar as one of the four or five immortal recordings of the entire world. Half a century has elapsed since these recordings were made, yet the passage of time has done nothing to dim their transcendent beauty. You won t encounter the formal trappings of Western psychedelia but this is music that will transport and elevate and enrich the listener.