Well before Western musicians began to interact with their Indian counterparts, travellers to India and British officials posted here occasionally wrote about their impressions of subcontinental traditions. Some of them were even amateur musicians. Interestingly, some of those centuries-old commentaries continue to colour the way we perceive Indian music.

Since the 1950s, however, professional musicians from India and the West have been able to communicate with each other in a more meaningful manner. Unfortunately, the response of Indian musicians to these conversations has not been widely recorded. However, dialogues initiated by the West have often been documented on film and other formats.

Violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin is perhaps one of the earliest and best-known musicians from the West to have visited the intricacies of Hindustani music through his collaborations with the world-renowned sitar player Ravi Shankar, as is evident in this short clip.



There is also another rare instance of iconic American singer-songwriter Pete Seeger visiting sitar virtuoso Imrat Khan at his Calcutta residence and interviewing him about his music. Watch the video here.