The Sounds Of India
by Ravi Shankar

The Sounds Of India by Ravi Shankar
Year: 1958
Overall rank: 9,773rd   Overall chart history
Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 55 votes)
  Ratings distribution   Average rating history
Accolades:
Award Top albums of 1958 (65th)
Award Top albums of the 1950s (293rd)
Award Best albums of all time (9,773rd)

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Ravi Shankar – The Sounds of India CD Angel Records Factory Seal Intact
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Ravi Shankar The Sounds of India 12" Vinyl LP Stereo Columbia CS 9296
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Ravi Shankar - The Sounds Of India - CD 1989 Columbia USA ✨Excellent ✨
Condition: Like New


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Ravi Shankar bestography

The Sounds Of India is ranked 2nd best out of 36 albums by Ravi Shankar on BestEverAlbums.com.

The best album by Ravi Shankar is Music Of India (Three Classical Ragas) which is ranked number 2351 in the list of all-time albums with a total rank score of 687.

Ravi Shankar album bestography « Higher ranked (2,351st)
Music Of India (Three Classical Ragas)
This album (9,773rd)
The Sounds Of India
Lower ranked (13,400th) »
India's Master Musician

(N.B. Bestographies include all albums by an artist (and their variations), but do not include albums ranked outside the top 100,000).

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The Sounds Of India track list

  Track ratings The tracks on this album have an average rating of 76 out of 100 (all tracks have been rated).

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The Sounds Of India rankings

Rankings summary
Overall rank: 9,773rd | 1950s rank: 293rd | 1958 rank: 65th
Filter Filter
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YearSourceChartRankRank Score
2026WeepingguitarmanTop 16 Music Albums of 195810/162
2026Exist-en-cielTop 55 Music Albums of 195852/550
2026 HaydenTop 95 Music Albums of 195810/955
2026 HeliosTop 30 Music Albums of 19584/305
2026 TamthebamTop 90 Music Albums of 195879/901
2026 HaydenTop 100 Music Albums of the 1950s83/1004
2025MaxStorm98Top 23 Music Albums of 195823/230
2025 paladisiac1960s, 55-rating, #001-100*24/24 -
2025 EyeKanFlyTop 31 Music Albums of 195817/312
2025 IgtonumamaTop 100 Music Albums of 195813/1004
2025 djnizziTop 100 Music Albums of the 1950s93/1002
2025 baystateoftheartIf The Chart Represented Population66/99 -
2024 sszwalbenestTop 8 Music Albums of 19583/84
2024 EyeKanFlyAM Bubbling Under 1950s 176/100 -
2024TheKingTop 100 Music Albums of the 1950s78/1005
2024WeepingguitarmanTop 50 Music Albums of the 1950s31/508
2024TheKingTop 19 Music Albums of 195817/191
2024 sszwalbenestTop 39 Music Albums of the 1950s17/3912
2024 paladisiacTop 64 Music Albums of 196864/64 -
2023 HeliosTop 100 Music Albums of the 1950s40/10012
Total Charts: Help The total number of charts that this album has appeared in. 45
Total Rank Score: Help The total rank score. 124
You can include this album in your own chart from the My Charts page!

The Sounds Of India collection

The Sounds Of India ratings

Average Rating: 
73/100 (from 55 votes)
  Ratings distribution Help Average Rating = (n ÷ (n + m)) × av + (m ÷ (n + m)) × AV
where:
av = trimmed mean average rating an item has currently received.
n = number of ratings an item has currently received.
m = minimum number of ratings required for an item to appear in a 'top-rated' chart (currently 10).
AV = the site mean average rating.

Showing latest 5 ratings for this album.  | Show all 55 ratings for this album.

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RatingDate updatedMemberAlbum ratingsAvg. album rating
 
60/100
 
03/27/2026 02:26 stareaterogni0n  Ratings distribution  41771/100
 
70/100
 
12/25/2025 01:07 Exist-en-ciel  Ratings distribution  9,58570/100
 
80/100
 
12/04/2025 10:35 LedZep  Ratings distribution  5,01079/100
 
30/100
 
11/14/2025 19:50 Jakor  Ratings distribution  5,29268/100
 
60/100
 
11/10/2025 10:51 TonySayers61  Ratings distribution  24,43364/100

Rating metrics: Help Outliers can be removed when calculating a mean average to dampen the effects of ratings outside the normal distribution. This figure is provided as the trimmed mean. A high standard deviation can be legitimate, but can sometimes indicate 'gaming' is occurring. Consider a simplified example* of an item receiving ratings of 100, 50, & 0. The mean average rating would be 50. However, ratings of 55, 50 & 45 could also result in the same average. The second average might be more trusted because there is more consensus around a particular rating (a lower deviation).
(*In practice, some albums can have several thousand ratings)

This album has a Bayesian average rating of 73.0/100, a mean average of 72.2/100, and a trimmed mean (excluding outliers) of 73.1/100. The standard deviation for this album is 16.2.

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The Sounds Of India favourites

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The Sounds Of India comments

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Rating:  
55/100
From 02/06/2021 15:39 | #265912
educational introduction to Indian music by the man who influenced many
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
75/100
From 01/13/2018 05:20 | #205365
Classical Indian doesn't entrance me quite as much as it used to, but if you're going to listen to anyone, it should probably be Ravi Shankar.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | 0 votes (0 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 05/22/2017 20:00 | #191239
A splendid introduction to Raga / Hindustani classical music for western-world audiences; educational and beautiful.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
From 03/01/2017 01:44 | #186564
Used to spin it a LOT when I was in my 20s.
A perfect place to start getting into Hindustani classical music. Other albums often have one only raga lasting 50 minutes and things like that, wich can be tiresome for a first time listener.

So, if you never listened to this type of music before my advice would be to make this album the starting point.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
80/100
From 11/08/2013 18:59 | #91291
Let's face it. Ravi Shankar was pretty much the closest that he could be to "rock star" status as an Eastern musician in the late 60s and early 70s. This virtuoso sitar player from India was one of key ambassadors for Eastern music during this time, thanks in part to an early endorsement from The Beatles. He would later appear at Woodstock to play in front of half a million music fans. This made perfect sense at the time given the influence that Indian music had upon Rock music during the Psychedelic era. This album is a wonderful introduction to Ravi & Indian music in general. His teaching narratives throughout the album are geared to help Western listeners understand the mechanics of this genre. I suppose the styling might wear upon the nerves of some listeners due to their constant drones Ravi improvises over. Those who grasp the brilliance of Ravi's improvisations with fully acknowledge what a BAD ASS he was on this album.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
Rating:  
100/100
From 01/22/2013 00:19 | #62444
It's hard for me to say much about it since I lack the expertise, but it was quite enjoyable and a nice departure from Western music.
Helpful?  (Log in to vote) | +1 votes (1 helpful | 0 unhelpful)
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