East Meets West Music, a new label just launched by the Ravi Shankar Foundation, has announced plans on their website to issue the movie "Raga," a 1971 documentary about Ravi Shankar that also features George Harrison, on both DVD and CD in October. The soundtrack was originally issued on Apple Records.

The inaugural release on the new label, which will feature Shankar's recordings, will be "Nine Decades: Volume 1," the first in a multi-volume series featuring rare and never-released recordings selected by Shankar from his archives. The series will include live performances and studio recordings newly remastered. "Nine Decades: Volume 1" is scheduled for release on April 7th, coinciding with Shankar's 90th birthday. It will be available digitally through all major online retailers on both CD and limited edition vinyl.

"There is something beautiful about the stage. There is a performer and there is an audience. Nothing is in the way. The sound remains pure and unburdened by things like marketing and distribution. My hope is for this label to be more like a stage and less like the music business as I have experienced it," Shankar said in announcing the label.

In addition to issuing Ravi Shankar's recordings exclusively, East Meets West Music will also release work by artists supported by Ravi and Anoushka Shankar that, according to a description on their website, "continues the sitar master's vibrant tradition of exploring new musical terrains."