Indian Music?


Years ago I listened to Ravi Shankar occasionally and enjoyed a lot of what I heard. The other night I watched an interview Charlie Rose had with a very famous tabla player and his music was superb. I'm thinking that I should explore traditional Indian music a bit further but have little knowledge of the subject. Any suggestions on 2-6 CDs I should check out for starters? I prefer instrumental but would consider vocal as well. Thanks!
PS: If you're suggesting obscure titles, sources would also be appreciated.
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Check this out about Nikhil Bannerjee:

http://www.stevenbaigel.com/banerjeedoc/video/Nikhil.sample.12C.mov
Zakir Hussain is wonderful, look for him on the ECM label
Shakti has him playing tabla with John Mglaughlin,T.H. Vildar and Hariprasad Chaurasia.
Also checkout Balachander and VM bhatt (who played with Cooder on "A Meeting By the River'
Enjoy
I second "Meeting by the River" on Water Lily Acoustics Label ....a collaboration between Ry Cooder and VM Bhatt. It is a facinating cross cultural dialogue between two diverse vituosos. Ry plays his steel guitar like a Sitar and Bhatt blues up his Sitar playing. Lots of soul on that recording

Also Nikhil Banerjee is amazing. One of the all time great Sitar players.
The vocalists Parween Sultana and Dilshad Khan seem to defy what is humanly possible with their voices. Their music is virtuosic, emotionally compelling, and absolutely life-affirming. The master of the sarod, Ali Akbar Khan, is another artist very much worth exploring.

For a more interesting east/west collaboration than "Meeting By The River"---Cooder was very tired at that session and it shows---"Good People In Times Of Evil" by Jonas Hellborg, Shawn Lane, and V. Selvaganesh is a remarkably vital document.