Lisnaholic

IMO, listening to sitar music is like having sex; when it starts you want it to go on forever, but if you`re not careful, after a while, you find yourself praying for it to stop. So, to enjoy it while you are able, you need to choose wisely. With that goal in mind, I`d like to expand on some of the suggestions here, more or less in order of merit :

Saddhu Brand`s album Whole Earth Rhythm is a beautiful combination of long sitar instrumentals relieved by some hippy-choir singing which actually adds to its charm.

As far as I know, the whole East/West fusion of sounds was pioneered by Ananda Shankar on his excellent self-titled 1970 album, with a mix of sitar and moog synthesizer. The album is mostly made up of long, traditional-sounding tracks, although he also throws in cover versions of Jumping Jack Flash and Light My Fire, which, more than anything, show up just how simple pop songs are compared to Indian music.



Lord Sitar, on the other hand, seems to confine himself exclusively to cover versions of seventies pop (The Beatles, The Monkees, etc.). Not for me, thanks.

Okko Bekker is another guy who can`t resist covering The Beatles (A Day In The Life, this time) although he does branch out a bit more than Lord Sitar.

I looked at Octopus Syng on Youtube, but didn`t see any sitar playing at all. Instead, I enjoyed an afternoon concert at some Scandanavian campus with a band whose main influence seemed to be Saucerful of Secrets.