Ravi Shankar W/ Philip Glass - Passages 1990

Passages is collaborative chamber music studio album co-composed by Ravi Shankar and Philip Glass, released in 1990 through Atlantic Records. The album's content is a hybrid of Hindustani classical music and Glass' distinct American minimal contemporary classical style. The album reached a peak position of number three on Billboard's Top World Music Albums chart.

00:00 "Offering" (Shankar)– 9:47
09:47 "Sadhanipa" (Glass) – 8:37
18:24 "Channels and Winds" (Glass) – 8:00
26:24 "Ragas in Minor Scale" (Glass) – 7:37
34:01 "Meetings Along the Edge" (Shankar) – 8:11
42:12 "Prashanti" (Shankar) – 13:40


"Offering", the album's opening track, begins with a slow introduction before the saxophone establishes the Shankar raga melody. Two additional saxophones join, followed by an extended middle section at a faster tempo, all before returning to the starting theme. The title of the second track, "Sadhanipa", is derived from the solfège notes (swara) "Sa Dha Ni Pa" from the Indian octave (saptak) based on the first four tones of Glass' melody, "Do La Ti So" (D-B-C-A).

Allmusic's Jim Brenholts awarded the album four of five stars, calling the music "brilliant". Benholts wrote that Shankar's "smooth" style and Glass' dissonant orchestrations mixed well, and recommended Passages to fans of other minimalist composers such as John Cage, Steve Reich and Terry Riley.

Tim Baker – violin
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam – vocals
Seymour Barab – cello
Al Brown – viola
Ashit Desai – conductor
Blaise Dupuy – engineer
Barry Finclair – viola, violin
Mayuki Fukuhara – violin
Jean Gagne – voices
Jon Gibson – soprano saxophone
Philip Glass – performer, producer
Peter Gordon – French horn
Regis Iandiorio – violin
Rory Johnston – executive producer
Karen Karlsrud – violin
Abhiman Kaushal – tabla
Jack Kripl – alto saxophone, flute
Suresh Lalwani – arranger, conductor, mixing, orchestral assistant, producer
Regis Landiorio – violin
Beverly Lauridsen – cello
Batia Lieberman – cello
Ronu Mazumdar – flute
Michael McGrath – assistant engineer
Kurt Munkasci – producer
Keith O'Quinn – trombone
Richard Peck – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Melanie Penny – art direction
Martin Perlich – liner notes
Lenny Pickett – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
Alan Raph – trombone
Michael Riesman – conductor, mixing, piano
Ebet Roberts – photography
Partha Sarathy – sarod, veena
Sergiu Schwartz – violin
Ron Sell – French horn
Ravi Shankar – arranger, orchestration, performer, producer, Vocals
Shubho Shankar – sitar
Richard Sortomme – viola
T. Srinivasan – drum sounds, mridangam
A.R. Swaminathan – engineer
Masako Yanagita – viola, violin
Frederick Zlotkin – cello