Progressive artists with sitar

[auxfnx]

Looking for any and all recommendations for bands that have sitar as a featured instrument.
I'm talking about the sitar being a major part of the music, rather than its common use in prog as a background drone or occasional feature on a track or two on an album!

Especially anything that has a jazz element too!

NOT looking for songs from prog bands that have sitar - I'm looking for bands / groups / musicians who regularly feature sitar in their music.

Here are some of my favourites that I have found:

Kashi: Songs from the India Within by Prem Joshua & Chintan - very powerful jazz / electronic / sitar music
https://whiteswanrecords.bandcamp.co...e-india-within

Traveller by Anoushka Shankar - this album mixes flamenco, jazz and indian music with sitar at the fore


Sachal Jazz Ensemble - their albums feature covers of jazz standards with an indian ensemble


Pulsar Trio - piano, sitar and drum in a jazz context. I like the line up and the roles each member plays in the band, though I find the music isn't as outstanding as the configuration might lead you to think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzF6BZs8dI8

Mute The Saint - sitar and indian classical composition techniques fused with progressive metal / djent. Not a massive fan of metal anymore but this album has really amazing sitar playing and the metal backdrop works surprisingly well with it.


Hope you enjoy this music! I'll post more as I think of them and look forward to listening to any suggestions made here

[Zeuhlmate]

[auxfnx]

thank you for the suggestion! this however is not really a fusion of sitar with progressive music, rather just sitar and tablas as a slice of indian-style music on a prog album, and from what i can find is just a single track with sitar rather than the band featuring a sitarist as a member in their band, which is what i'm looking for i'm aware there are a lot of older progressive artists that have featured the sitar on a song or two, but i'm looking for artists who properly incorporate it as a part of their sound as a band and not just a novelty!

[Zeuhlmate]

You are right - its the only recorded track by Hurdy Gurdy with Sitar.

I know Anoushka Shankar - she is great!

[auxfnx]

You are right - its the only recorded track by Hurdy Gurdy with Sitar.

I know Anoushka Shankar - she is great!

She is the person who opened my eyes to the sitar - now I have my own and am slowly learning the ropes

I just found this great tune from Clem Alford which is a nice mix of prog and sitar!

Unfortunately that seems to be the only album he's released!

[Zeuhlmate]

There is lots on youtube, but I'm sure you know...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEN-zPOxMvE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E36mrhSaXT4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5CkigqO7aY

[rcarlberg]

Check out the late great Ananda Shankar, several great albums of Indian-tinged progressive rock.

[moecurlythanu]

I just found this great tune from Clem Alford which is a nice mix of prog and sitar!

Unfortunately that seems to be the only album he's released!

Clem Alford was the leader of Magic Carpet, a British Psychedelic Folk band of the early 70s who put out one rare and valuable album. They also put out a reunion album in 1996, and band member Alisha Sufit released a couple similar albums around that time. Clem was also on the exploito Psych album Pop Explosion Sitar Style by Sagram, on the budget Windmill label. So much thought put into it that the label even got the group's name wrong, as it was actually Sargam. These don't actually fit the parameters you're seeking, as (I didn't listen to the clip you posted) if the Mirror Image album is Progressive Rock, it's the only one he's done that can accurately be labelled thus.

[Jubal]

Not a huge part, but Steve Howe played Electric Sitar on Close To The Edge.

[JKL2000]

[interbellum]

Brand X: Sun In The Night from Moroccan Roll on which John Goodsall plays the sitar:



I noticed it was even released as a single.

[Svetonio]

Dogovor iz 1804. Vetar ("Wind", 1969)

[auxfnx]

On Close To The Edge I'm pretty sure Steve is just playing one of those guitars with a buzz bridge to make it sound kind of sitar-y. And I am aware of that Brand X track but again these are not bands thats feature sitar, these are individual songs where the sitar sound is a novelty of sorts.

The Magic Carpet album is very nice, a bit folky but I have enjoyed it. A similar band is Oriental Sunshine.

Ananda Shankar has some very cool tracks indeed Doesn't really push the boat out too far but it is nice.

That Dogovor iz 1804. track sounds very nice, pity the other tunes I've found on Youtube from them don't live up to that one

Will definitely look into some of those other Clem Alford records, thanks moecurlythanu

Here's a great track from a jazz fusion group called Mukta, the rest of the album features sitar too:


I think you can really tell the difference when a band has sitar as a regular featuring instrument rather than a once off. The playing style is usually a lot more proper for sitar, rather than for example a guitar riff being played on a sitar.

Sorry if I sound really picky. It's just unfortunately there are an abundance of prog and jazz groups with a song or two that has sitar on it, but very little with a sitar player as a member of the line up.

[Digital_Man]

Not a huge part, but Steve Howe played Electric Sitar on Close To The Edge.

I hear what sounds like a sitar on "to be over."

[walt]

I just found this great tune from Clem Alford which is a nice mix of prog and sitar!

Unfortunately that seems to be the only album he's released!

Never heard this.Excellent stuff.Thanks for sharing it.

[progeezer]

I honestly don't remember if he ever played it on either Le Orme or his subsequent solo albums, but Aldo Tagliapietra plays sitar beautifully, and played for Kay & I when we visited him in Italy.

[moecurlythanu]

Again, not really Progressive Rock as such, but I recall some of the Psych dealers hyping some of this stuff back when I first started getting into collecting. Hazy, drifting Indian oriented stuff with that snake charmer vibe. I cannot guarantee that all has prominent sitar, but iirc, it does.

Chiitra Neogy -The Perfumed Garden (Used to have this LP, haven't heard it in at least 20 years)

https://www.discogs.com/Chiitra-Neog.../master/425639

Sivananda School Of Yoga -Preparing The Mind And Body For Meditation (Have this LP)

https://www.discogs.com/Sivananda-Sc...elease/3032215

Cosmic Eye -Dream Sequence (Have this on CDR)

https://www.discogs.com/Cosmic-Eye-D...elease/2004923



Other Psychedelic artists that might be interesting to you and feature sitar to at least some degree...

Lamp Of The Universe

https://www.discogs.com/Lamp-Of-The-...elease/2764540

The Smell Of Incense

https://www.discogs.com/Smell-Of-Inc...elease/1544517

S.T. Mikael

https://www.discogs.com/ST-Mikael-Vi.../master/523837

Purple Overdose

https://www.discogs.com/Purple-Overd...elease/3601327

Entheogens

https://www.discogs.com/Entheogens-T...elease/3121974




More Indo-Jazz than anything else, I do have one album by this guy...

Vasant Rai

https://www.discogs.com/artist/1622479-Vasant-Rai

In the cases where I listed one album by an artist who has many, it is not intended to imply that that one alone has sitar. Consider them starting points.

Most of this is on YouTube, I think.

[JKL2000]

Can't post a link now, but on YouTube check out the song Lonely Land by Landberk.

[rcarlberg]

Another very cool group -- which never got the respect they deserved, or a CD re-release! -- is Shanti, featuring Ashish Khan, Zakir Hussain and Neil Seidel. Their lone album (self-titled) was released by Atlantic in 1971.

[rcarlberg]

Another personal favorite of mine is Saddhu Brand "Whole Earth Rhythm" (1970) -- also never re-released on CD.



But I know it with this cover:

[rcarlberg]

Let's not forget The ISB:

[rcarlberg]

Hey, I just thought of another favorite! At least this guy is a little more available, with several CDs out:

[rcarlberg]

Not featuring sitar per se, but fine examples of "raga-rock" from the era:

[Svetonio]

Abacus Midway (1973)

[Trane]

80's and 90's High Tide is sitar-filled, if memory serves

closer in time, The Narcotic Daffoldil's Simon Rigot plays some sitar on their albums (he's also a Hammond freak).