I started listening to indian classical music about 15 years ago. I've always enjoyed it, but I've never really known much about the actual form of the music. A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Ravi Shankar perform with his daughter Anoushka. It was a truly fascinating experience and greatly deepened my interest in the music. I spent some time with Google and Wikipedia learning about the form of the music and the instruments that they play and also came across this CD on iTunes. This has a number of excellent performances by Ravi Shankar, but also includes some dialog from Ravi himself discussing the music and how it works. There's a short introductory track about indian classical music in general, along with an introduction to each piece where Ravi speaks a little about the ascending and descending scales used in the Raga and the Rhythmic pattern that will be used. This is fascinating stuff and makes you appreciate the astounding level of complexity and virtuosity that exists within the music. The only downside is that the recording is mono, but that doesn't really detract that much from something so fascinating. Overall, a great introduction to Indian classical music aimed at western listeners.