George Harrison dubbed Shankar ‘the Father of World Music’. I know what he meant, and he meant well, but the ‘world music’ tag (coined by Peter Gabriel, I believe) is scarcely less condescending than its predecessor, ‘ethnic music’. The implication that the European tradition represents the pinnacle of musical evolution whilst everything else is mere exotica is particularly impudent when applied to Indian classical music, which is every bit as sophisticated and technically rigorous as the European tradition.

Shankar’s own work has profoundly affected major figures like Menuhin, Glass, Coltrane and Hendrix. As well as bestriding European and Indian cultures, creating crossover/fusion pieces with Menuhin and others, Shankar bridged the Hindustani and Carnatic (North and South Indian) traditions, becoming the first leader to permit percussion solos and introducing Carnatic ragas and aspects of Carnatic style into Hindustani music.

Mark Kidel has assembled a wonderful collection of photographs, especially from the 1930s, alongside samples of Shankar’s film work and several fascinating clips of concerts and other meetings with musicians and gurus. There are also some charming and funny domestic sequences, not least when Shankar is taken to task by his wife for referring to Shankar Foundation staff as ‘the servants’. Visually the film is gorgeous, full of beautifully-composed imagery which never descends into preciousness.

Following Kidel’s film is an expanded version of one of the sequences showing Shankar coaching a group of students, including his daughter Anoushka. ‘Play like sweet honey dripping,’ he tells them at one point. The second disc contains two seductive performances recorded at London’s Union Chapel, together with a crash-course in Indian music and the sitar.

I first saw Shankar in 1969 and was spellbound. Living legends almost always disappoint when encountered in the flesh, but not him. Only Tortelier ever matched his charisma. Kidel captures his almost saintly quality of dedication as well as his humanity and humour.