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''Raga'' is a 1971 documentary film about the life and music of Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, produced and directed by Howard Worth. It includes scenes featuring Western musicians Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison, as well as footage of Shankar returning to Maihar in central India, where as a young man he trained under the mentorship of Allauddin Khan. The film also features a portion of Shankar and tabla player Alla Rakha's acclaimed performance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival. The majority of the documentary was shot in the late 1960s, during a period when Shankar's growing popularity saw Indian classical music embraced by rock and pop musicians and their audiences. Financial problems then delayed production until Harrison provided assistance through the Beatles' company Apple Films. In addition to actively promoting ''Raga'', Harrison produced the soundtrack album – a project that led directly to he and Shankar staging the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971. The film's working title was alternately ''East Meets West'' and ''Messenger Out of the East''. In 2010, to coincide with celebrations for Shankar's 90th birthday, East Meets West Music released a fully remastered version on DVD, titled ''Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India''. The expanded soundtrack album was also made available, via digital download. ==Production== New York film-maker Howard Worth began work on ''Raga'', a documentary film on Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar, in 1967, during the height of what Shankar describes in ''My Music, My Life'' (1968), the first of his two autobiographies,〔Lavezzoli, pp. 187, 197.〕 as "the great sitar explosion".〔Shankar, ''My Music, My Life'', p. 100.〕 The latter term reflected the interest that had grown in the West for Indian music and its extended works, known as ragas, over 1966–67,〔Lavezzoli, pp. 171–72.〕 following the Beatles and other rock bands' adoption of the multi-stringed sitar into their sound.〔''World Music: The Rough Guide'', pp. 109–10.〕〔Robert Shelton, ("Indian Raga Music Gains in Popularity Across U.S." ), ''New York Times'', 20 December 1966 (retrieved 3 December 2013).〕 Aided by his befriending George Harrison of the Beatles,〔Bruce Eder, ("George Harrison" ), AllMusic (retrieved 20 July 2014).〕 this phenomenon resulted in Shankar achieving pop star status.〔Book accompanying ''Collaborations'' box set by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison (Dark Horse Records, 2010; produced by Olivia Harrison), p. 11.〕〔 Music critic Ken Hunt describes him as having become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" in 1966.〔 Shankar was uncomfortable with this development,〔Lavezzoli, p. 172.〕 since his training had instilled in him a sacred purpose for India's musical heritage〔"'My Music Not For Addicts' – Shankar", ''KRLA Beat'', 29 July 1967, p. 10; available at (Rock's Backpages ) (''subscription required''; retrieved 20 June 2014).〕〔("Ravi Shankar: 'Our music is sacred' – a classic interview from the vaults" ), theguardian.com, 12 December 2012 (retrieved 13 August 2014).〕 – namely, Nada Brahma ("Sound is God").〔Shankar, ''My Music, My Life'', pp. 65, 100, 102, 105.〕〔Leng, pp. 24, 27–28.〕 The film documents Shankar's concern that while old traditions were dying in India, they were simultaneously being misappropriated by America's youth culture,〔Shankar, ''Raga Mala'', pp. 209, 210.〕 particularly through many in the West choosing to associate Indian classical music with psychedelic drugs.〔Sue C. Clark, ("Ravi Shankar: The ''Rolling Stone'' Interview" ), ''Rolling Stone'', 9 March 1968 (retrieved 15 December 2013).〕〔Clayson, pp. 210–11.〕 Speaking in 2010 of his involvement in ''Raga'', Worth recalled that he disliked Indian music initially, but soon changed his view.〔 At the request of Canadian television producer Nancy Bacal, he attended a private recital by Shankar, in the company of singers Judy Collins and Leonard Cohen, a performance that convinced Worth that he wanted to direct the planned Shankar documentary after all.〔 (retrieved 1 November 2013).〕 Worth also served as producer,〔Castleman & Podrazik, p. 320.〕 and he and Bacal worked on a script at Collins's house in California.〔 The film was originally called ''East Meets West'', according to author Peter Lavezzoli;〔Lavezzoli, p. 184.〕 ''Messenger Out of the East'' was an alternative working title.〔Clayson, p. 308.〕 The first of these titles referenced ''West Meets East'', Shankar's 1966 album with American violinist Yehudi Menuhin, and the winner of the 1967 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.〔Lavezzoli, pp. 8, 63.〕 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「Raga (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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