The Sounds of India from Indian artist Ravi Shankar is not something I would ever want to listen to before I die. I am not really a fan of the sitar unless it is in a pop song and it is hidden beneath drums and a loud bass.
From the beginning of the album I think I will hate it. “An Introduction to Indian Music” is the first thing on it. Shankar feels the need to teach Westerners about the type of music he will play and how we should receive it.
“Dádrá” the real first song sounds like what I imagined every song from India to sound like. The song is 10 minutes long. 10 minutes of banging and blowing. It is all so random and chaotic.
All the songs sound the same to me. And to make matters worse they are all over 10 minutes long. Each song ascends in time to paraphrase Shankar’s talking before each song.
Irritatingly long album of four songs that sound all the same. It is like listening to Taylor Swift whine about all her relationships without lyrics and she has 100 cats licking her barefoot as she plays the sitar. I started with a higher score, but when I realized that I had two more songs to listen to I started to cry and the score decreased for each song. 0/10.
an ocean roars 