SHANKAR Song For Everyone (ECM)

This East-West fusion stuff may not be everybody’s cup of curried meat but Song For Everyone has gotta be some sort of a milestone within the genre. I think I can safely say that L. Shankar, one of Ravi’s offspring, is the first Indian 10-string double violinist to record with a drum machine. Having said that, the tunes where he doesn’t use the plug-in thump-thump work the best. He’s got two percussionists, including Zakir Hussain, his old sidekick from Shakti, and their gently-insistent prodding puts a lively edge in the lyricism of token Westerner Jan Garbarek. True, side one’s a tad restrained—this is ECM, not SST, after all—but there are plenty of musical sparks to keep you awake on side two. M.D.