Rudresh Mahanthappa Finds His Roots
When jazz saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa was still a student at Berklee College of Music, his older brother gave him an album called Saxophone Indian Style – as a joke. Mahanthappa had been suspicious of American jazz’s sampling of Indian music.
When he was in his twenties, already an accomplished musician, he went to India without his family for the first time on a music tour. He found himself himself at an all-night concert in Bangalore given by the classical singer Parveen Sultana. In the small hours of the morning, Mahanthappa says, “I realized that I was as captivated by Indian music as I was jazz, and I felt a burn inside me.”
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Bonus Track: Parveen Sultana Sultana sings “Raga Mishra Kedar: Bhajan – Kab Ki Khadi Yamuna Ke Teer.”