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Editorial Reviews

Ravi Shankar was the first musician from India to achieve international renown; he was then gracious enough to utilize his fame -- and media access -- to promote India's musical traditions, educate interested listeners throughout the world and expand the potential global marketplace for the richly diverse musical byproducts of his homeland. Master Drummers of India is a forty-seven-and-a-half minute live performance album devoted to three types of drums. The tabla, the most famous of all Indian percussion instruments, is a pair of drums; the one on the right is the tabla, the larger bass toned one on the left is the banya. Tabla masters heard solo or in duet on this album are Alla Rakha, Zakir Hussain and Chatur Lal. The south Indian mridangam is a large double-headed drum, closely associated with both the elephant-headed deity Ganesha and with Lord Shiva's divine bull Nandhi. One end of the drum is much larger than the other; this results in tones that differ greatly in texture, timbre and pitch. This instrument may be heard during the first tabla duet and is played by mridangam master Palghat Raghu. Also of south Indian origin, the double-headed, barrel-shaped thavil is played with both the hand and with a special sort of stick. Thavil masters P.K. Kalimurthi and A.K. Palinivel perform a fascinating duet during the final 16 minutes of this wonderful album dedicated to the master percussionists of Mother India. ~ arwulf arwulf, All Music Guide All Music Guide

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