RAVI HARRIS & THE PROPHETS
- Funky sitar man
- BBE
- 1997
- USA
Bill Harris was a mystical character from California who got interested in sitar playing during his teens and was also very interested in funk music in general. Or that’s how the story goes. In real life Bill “Ravi” Harris was a pseudonym of the Desco and Daptone Records founder Gabriel Roth (aka Bosco Mann). In 1996 he recorded two singles and one album of sitar funk together with his band The Prophets. Two singles was released on Desco Records subsidiary Gemini, but the album was released on BBE Records in 1997. In this album Ravi Harris (let’s use the pseudonym) played sitar and did also the guitar overdubbing. Along him there was Mike Wagner on bass and on drums the Desco co-founder Philippe Lehman, who later went to form Soul Fire and Truth & Soul records. With this line-up it’s not that hard to guess what you gonna get. Pure sitar funk with some really tight covers. There’s “Soul Makossa” from Manu DiBango, “Cissy Strut” and “Look a py py” from Meters, and then there’s several from the James Brown / The JB’s repetoire. There’s “Same beat”, “Escapism” and two medleys, “Gimme some more / Hot pants” and “Pass the peas / Sex machine”. And then there’s some tight original compositions too. Such as “Path of the blazing sarong”, “Ravi’s thing” and “Funky sitar man”. So don’t just stare at a little cheap looking cover, but listen to it and make your own judgment.
Ravi’s thing
Path of the blazing sarong
Funky sitar man
Cissy strut
Soul Makossa
Gimme some more / Hot pants medley
Pass the peas / Sex machine medley
