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''Chants of India'' is an album by Indian musician Ravi Shankar released in 1997 on Angel Records. Produced by his friend and sometime collaborator George Harrison, the album consists of Vedic and other Hindu sacred prayers set to music, marking a departure from Shankar's more familiar work in the field of Hindustani classical music. The lyrical themes of the recorded chants are peace and harmony among nature and all creatures. Sessions for the album took place in the Indian city of Madras and at Harrison's home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, following his work on ''The Beatles' Anthology'' (1995). Anoushka Shankar, John Barham, Bikram Ghosh, Tarun Bhatacharaya and Ronu Majumdar are among the many musicians who contributed to the recording. ''Chants of India'' was well received by reviewers; author Peter Lavezzoli describes it as "a quiet masterpiece" and "the most fully realized collaboration" by Shankar and Harrison.〔 Shankar considered it to be among the best works of his 60-year career. In 2010, the album was reissued as part of the Dark Horse Records box set ''Collaborations'', which combined various projects undertaken by the two artists, beginning in 1973. ''Chants of India'' was the last formal collaboration between Shankar and Harrison, who was diagnosed with cancer shortly after its release. At the Concert for George in November 2002, Shankar incorporated some of the selections from ''Chants of India'', including the album-closing "Sarve Shaam", in a set performed by daughter Anoushka as a tribute to Harrison. ==Background and content== Having maintained a close friendship in the decades since their last official collaboration in 1974,〔Allison, p. 44.〕〔Tillery, p. 141.〕 Ravi Shankar and George Harrison began working together in 1995 on projects to celebrate Shankar's 75th birthday.〔Lavezzoli, pp. 195–96, 197.〕 Harrison first produced a four-disc career retrospective issued on EMI's Angel Records,〔("Ravi Shankar ''Ravi Shankar: In Celebration'': Releases" ), AllMusic (retrieved 21 October 2013).〕 ''Ravi Shankar: In Celebration'' (1996),〔The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', p. 193.〕 which also included unreleased recordings made by the pair,〔Clayson, p. 436.〕 before serving as editor on Shankar's second autobiography, ''Raga Mala''.〔Lavezzoli, p. 197.〕 When compiling ''In Celebration'', Shankar and Harrison discussed with Angel Records the possibility of making an album of Vedic chants and other Hindu sacred texts set to music.〔 According to Shankar, the record company were hoping to repeat the commercial success of a recording by "those Spanish monks"〔 – an album of Gregorian chants featuring a contemporary rhythm section.〔 Author Simon Leng describes the ''Chants of India'' project as a "back to the roots" exercise for Harrison, after his production of Radha Krishna Temple and his own releases such as "My Sweet Lord" and "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" in the 1970s.〔Leng, p. 281.〕 Shankar had grown up in the Hindu holy city of Benares,〔Ken Hunt, ("Ravi Shankar" ), AllMusic (retrieved 24 November 2013).〕 where the public chanting of Vedic hymns "() his passion for music", author Reginald Massey writes,〔Reginald Massey, ("Ravi Shankar obituary" ), ''The Guardian'', 12 December 2012 (retrieved 24 November 2013).〕 and as a young man during the 1940s he had embraced the concept of Nada Brahma (meaning "Sound is God"), under the strict tutelage of music guru Allauddin Khan.〔Lavezzoli, pp. 17, 51, 70.〕〔Shankar, ''My Music, My Life'', pp. 58, 65, 70.〕 In his liner notes to ''Chants of India'', Shankar nevertheless describes the undertaking as "one of the most difficult challenges in my life, as a composer and arranger".〔Ravi Shankar's liner notes, ''Chants of India'' CD (Angel Records, 1997; produced by George Harrison).〕 Shankar noted the precedents for such a venture: "Sanskrit chants from the Vedas, Upanishads and other scriptures have been recorded by many in India and elsewhere, either in its original form by the Traditional Scholars ... or sung within raga forms by eminent musicians with accompanying instruments. Some have even attempted to make them more popular by using a semi-classical and commercial approach. I wanted to make a version different from all these, but still maintain the tremendous spiritual force, and purity of the Suktas, Shlokas and Mantras, and at the same time make it universally appealing."〔 Shankar consulted a Dr Nandakumara of the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London, regarding the interpretation of the Sanskrit texts.〔 Aside from adapting these ancient texts, Shankar composed new selections for the album〔 – "Prabhujee", "Mangalam", "Svara Mantra" and "Hari Om" – and, as he put it, "tuned them in the same spirit".〔 Peter Lavezzoli, author of ''The Dawn of Indian Music in the West'', writes of the album's themes: "The record begins with the traditional invocation to Lord Ganesha, continuing through a series of traditional Hindu prayers and chants from the Rigveda, Upanishads, and ''Bhagavad Gita''."〔Lavezzoli, pp. 197–98.〕 Harrison biographer Gary Tillery describes the songs' focus, following the opening invocations, as "peace, love, ecology, and social harmony".〔 ''Chants of India'' reunited Shankar and Harrison with English musician and arranger John Barham.〔 Barham provided Western annotation of Shankar's melodies,〔Album credits, ''Chants of India'' CD (Angel Records, 1997; produced by George Harrison).〕 a role he had first supplied for Shankar at the Bath Music Festival in 1966, when the Indian sitar virtuoso had duetted with Yehudi Menuhin.〔Lavezzoli, pp. 62–63, 198.〕 Anoushka Shankar conducted the musicians at the sessions,〔 having made her European performance debut in July 1995 at an official concert to celebrate her father's 75th birthday, held at the Barbican Centre in London.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chants of India」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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