Songs Of The Day 1/2/2016: Ananda Shankar – “Renunciation” + “Dancing Drums”

One week ago I posted a new mix called Compass Syndrome that featured music from Asia and Europe, particularly songs that fused or incorporated Western popular influences. (By the way, expect more mixes this year, they're becoming my favorite way to communicate since I don't need thesauri.) Two songs from Ananda Shankar (1942-1999) cushioned the beginning and end of the mixtape and proved to be the heartbeat of the whole project, not to mention my favorite songs on it. Ananda was, as you might expect, a nephew of Indian music icon Ravi Shankar, but pursued a more direct path to the West than his uncle. His expeditions resulted in a couple of Hindustani covers of rock songs ("Jumpin' Jack Flash," for example) that incredibly did not devolve into farce. But the original works I'm tossing at you today are nonpareil. On "Renunciation" the opening meditation leads to a rock guitar entrance that I'd put up against almost any Pete Townshend strike, and "Dancing Drums" has been popular for awhile with its manic rush through random components of percussion. All this is making me really antsy for a vacation.