About Ananda Shankar and His Music
Ananda Shankar and His Music is a studio album by Indian musician and composer Ananda Shankar. Shankar released the album on January 1, 1975. The work represents a fusion of traditional Indian classical music with Western rock, funk and psychedelic elements. The label information remains undocumented in available sources.
The album contains nine instrumental tracks. Shankar composed and arranged all pieces. The recording features Shankar on sitar and Moog synthesizer alongside an ensemble of session musicians. The tracklist includes Streets of Calcutta, Cyrus, The Lonely Rider, The River, Vidai (Parting), Back Home, Dawn, Renunciation and Dancing Drums. Streets of Calcutta opens the album with a blend of sitar melodies and funk-inspired rhythms. Dancing Drums closes the work with a percussive focus that integrates tabla and Western drum kit patterns.
Shankar’s approach on this release expanded his earlier experiments in Ananda Shankar (1970), further incorporating electronic instrumentation. The Moog synthesizer appears prominently across multiple tracks, including Cyrus and The Lonely Rider. Traditional Indian raga structures underpin compositions like The River and Vidai (Parting), while Renunciation adopts a slower, meditative tempo.
The album received limited commercial distribution upon release but gained recognition in later decades for its role in the development of Indo-Western fusion. Specific sales figures and original pressings remain undocumented. Reissues in the 2000s introduced the work to broader audiences through digital and vinyl formats. No official music videos or singles accompanied the 1975 release.
Critical reception from the period of release is sparsely recorded. Modern assessments highlight the album’s influence on subsequent generations of electronic and world music artists. The original recording sessions took place in India, though the exact studio location is unverified in available sources. Shankar produced the album with engineering support from unnamed technicians.