At the Woodstock Festival
Live album by
Ravi Shankar
Released1970
Recorded15 August 1969
VenueMax Yasgur's dairy farm, Bethel, NY
GenreIndian classical music
Length41:23
LabelWorld Pacific
ProducerRichard Bock

At the Woodstock Festival is a live album by Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar that was released in 1970 on World Pacific Records.[1] It was recorded on 15 August 1969, during the first day of the Woodstock Festival in upstate New York. Shankar's set took place during a downpour and he later expressed his dissatisfaction with the event due to the prevalence of drugs among the crowd.[2]

Having performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in June 1967, Woodstock was the last rock festival Shankar played, as he subsequently distanced himself from the 1960s hippie movement.[3][4] He said he felt the music was only "incidental" to the party atmosphere and likened the vast rain-soaked crowd to "the water buffaloes you see in India, submerged in the mud".[5]

The album includes an eight-minute tabla solo played by Alla Rakha. At the Woodstock Festival was issued on CD in 1991 by BGO Records.[6]

Track listing

Side one

  1. "Raga Puriya–Dhanashri/Gat in Sawarital" (11 Beats) (adapted by Ravi Shankar) – 11:04
  2. "Tabla Solo in Jhaptal" (10 Beats 2-3-2-3) (adapted by Alla Rakha) – 8:48

Side two

  1. "Raga Manj Khamaj" (Alap, Jor, Dhun in Kaharwa Tal (8 Beats), Medium and Fast Gat in Teental (16 Beats)) (adapted by Shankar) – 21:31

"Raga Puriya–Dhanashri/Gat in Sawarital" was in fact a studio recording. The live version performed at Woodstock was released for the first time in 2009, on the six-CD box set Woodstock 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm.[7]

Personnel

References

  1. ^ Thompson, Dave (2017). Goldmine Record Album Price Guide (9th edn). Iola, WI: Krause Publications. p. 614. ISBN 978-1-4402-4776-7.
  2. ^ "Ravi Shankar". woodstock.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  3. ^ Shankar, Ravi (1999). Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar. New York, NY: Welcome Rain. pp. 211–12. ISBN 1-56649-104-5.
  4. ^ Lavezzoli, Peter (2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. New York, NY: Continuum. p. 181. ISBN 0-8264-2819-3.
  5. ^ Shankar, Ravi (1999). Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar. New York, NY: Welcome Rain. p. 211. ISBN 1-56649-104-5.
  6. ^ "Ravi Shankar At the Woodstock Festival". AllMusic. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
  7. ^ "Woodstock – 40 Years On: Back to Yasgur's Farm". Rhino.com. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
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