On May 27,* 1957 Ravi Shankar *(sitar),* Chatur Lal *(tabla) and Nodu Mallick *(tanpura) performed in Amsterdam at the Concertgebouw. It was Shankar’s first appearance as a solo artist in The Netherlands. Though there is no audio of that concert,* we are lucky to have this music,* recorded earlier in the day at the Radio Netherlands studios in Hilversum as well as an interview with Ravi Shankar,* done in both Hindi and English,* recorded at a museum in Leiden. As a rare glimpse into Ravi Shankar’s early east-west travels,* this installment of the Nine Decades series documents the excitement with which the western and eastern worlds greeted each other through the melodies,* improvisations,* and rhythmic cycles of Indian classical music.
