Pandit Ravi Shankar celebrated his 89th birthday on April 7. This week, I read a lot about him in Peter Lavezzoli's new book 'Bhairavi - The Global Impact Of Indian Music', which I'd recommend to followers of north Indian classical and fusion music. Besides Ravi Shankar, the book captures the contribution of Indian artistes like Ali Akbar Khan, Allarakha, Vilayat Khan, Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu, and westerners like Yehudi Menuhin, John Coltrane, George Harrison and John McLaughlin who used Indian influences and were inspired by Indian music and spirituality. There's also good mention of the rock songs inspired by Indian music or which used Indian instruments like the sitar and tabla.
While the book is very well-researched and contains some wonderful interviews, I also found a few things missing.
a) Though the writer mentions that he is focusing on north Indian music, a few pages on south Indian contributors like L Subramaniam and Kadri Gopalnath would have been welcome. Of course, there is adequate mention of L Shankar and U Shrinivas, moreso because of their involvement with Shakti and its later avatar Remember Shakti (strangely, Shankar Mahadevan, who has now become part of Remember Shakti, doesn't find mention).
b) While it's true that Indian vocal music has not created an impact the way instrumental music has done, a chapter on this issue could have been written.
c) There are certain foreigners who are now involved full-time with Indian music and fusion, like Prem Joshua, Ali Gromer Khan and James Asher, but they are not mentioned.
d) Certain landmark fusion albums like Conversations (L Subramaniam/ Stephane Grappelli) and A Meeting By The River (Vishwa Mohan Bhatt/ Ry Cooder) are omitted.
Despite these oversights, it's a very readable book, with immense amount of research. The history part - how Indian music began being accepted in the west - is absolutely fantastic.

Thanx a lot Narendra......I read your topic the day u posted and made sure to get the book. thanx for informing about it as i had no idea abt the same.
I agree with u.. the book is a must read for music lovers especially who love classical music. even the point u mentioned we can actually overlook, thats what i felt after completing the book!
U raised a very valid point... Indian classical music when it comes to vocal music never saw that level of growth or popularity which instrumentals hv seen. True maybe the author could hv explained a bit on this subject as to reasons why.

But on the whole the book was worth buying and is a collectors edition..... its was really wonderful reading it thru and yes its a book i am sure one would go back many times. Thanx again Narendra for bringing to our notice.......

Hi Barnali, glad your enjoyed the book. It is definitely well-reserched and the interviews are wonderful.
Personally I collect books relating to music - any genre - so this was a welcome addition to my list.
For those who're interested in music-related books, in the classical field, I'd also recommend

a) Ravi Shankar's autobiography
b) Kumar Gandharva's biography by Raghava Menon
c) Profiles of freat vocalists (I think it's called The Great Masters) by Mohan Nadkarni
d) Profiles of great instrumentalists by Mohan Nadkarni
e) Euphony by L Subramaniam and Viji Subramaniam, which talks about Carnatic music

If anybody has any recommendations for any genre - do let me know