Ravi Shankar - Shankar Family & Friends

The album was a pioneering LP that mixed Eastern and Western styles – fusing together Indian, pop, classical and jazz music. Produced by George Harrison, it combines Western musicians such as Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann, and Nicky Hopkins side-by-side with Indian-music innovators Alla Rakha, Ashish Khan, Shivkumar Sharma, and Hariprasad Chaurasia.

Under the musical direction of Shankar, the large orchestra featured on the album showcases over 30 instruments from the East and West that combined in a ground-breaking way that made it one of the first world music albums ever released. The album was one of the first releases on Dark Horse Records. Remastered by Paul Hicks (The Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon, The Rolling Stones), Shankar Family & Friends marked the first time Harrison and Ravi had collaborated as musicians with Harrison playing acoustic and electric guitar under the name Hari Georgeson.