Anthology of Indian Classical Music: A Tribute to Alain Daniélou

This three-LP set, recorded by Alain Daniélou, was first released in 1955. The recordings were groundbreaking in the 50s for being amongst the first to present Indian music as something worthwhile in its own right, comparable to Western music. But now that magnificent records of Indian music have been released by Navras and Sense World Music, is this of any more than historical value? I’d say emphatically ‘yes.’ For starters, there is a magnificent track of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan on sitar and sarod. It is a gorgeous, dreamy 14-minute jugalbandi duet – the first recording of either of them ever released in the West. There are also solo tracks from both artists.

French musicologist Daniélou first visited India in 1933, lived in Varanasi for 15 years and set up a studio there. He clearly understood the workings of Indian music. The collection consists of 34 recordings (14 of North Indian music, 20 of Karnatic music), so the survey covers a lot of ground. Highlights include a fantastic piece on Bengali flute by Mishra Shyam Lal, plangent South Indian music from Tanjore on the nagaswaram temple oboe and a new instrument to me, the rare swara mandala, a plucked zither whose sound shimmers like the sun rising in paradise. This really is music that stands the test of time.