Ananda Shankar – Ananda Shankar and His Music
Never heard of Ananda Shankar? You are in for an absolute treat courtesy of independent record label, publisher (and former record shop), Mr Bongo.
Released in 1975, Ananda Shankar and His Music is the sound of Indian classical music colliding spectacularly with psychedelic funk, rock, electronics and some of the filthiest drum grooves you’re likely to hear on a record from this era.
Ananda Shankar — nephew of the legendary Ravi Shankar — clearly had absolutely no interest in staying in one musical lane. Sitar melodies twist around huge basslines, funky keyboards, psychedelic effects and relentless percussion, creating something that feels exotic, cinematic, deeply groovy and, remarkably, still incredibly modern.
Streets of Calcutta kicks things off with a swaggering sitar-and-funk groove that immediately tells you this isn’t going to be a quiet evening of traditional Indian music. But just wait for Dancing Drums. It’s five minutes of glorious rhythmic chaos: pounding percussion, breakbeats, sitar and an absolutely irresistible groove that sounds like it could have been made for a 1990s club rather than a studio in the mid-70s.
And there’s far more here than two dancefloor monsters. The River drifts into gorgeous, dreamy territory, Dawn stretches out into a hypnotic meditative journey, while Back Home and Renunciation dive even further into Shankar’s wonderfully strange psychedelic universe.
It’s funky. It’s psychedelic. It’s beautiful. Occasionally it’s completely f***ing unhinged.
Most importantly, it’s the sort of record that makes you stop what you’re doing, turn it up and ask: “How have I never heard this before?”
An absolutely joyous musical discovery — and one hell of a record.