Want to complete Raviji’s work: Sukanya

Pandit Ravi Shankar’s magnificent life and music career is being celebrated on his 95th birth anniversary and wife Sukanya has been busy giving shape to a planned exhibition in Grammy museum, slated to open on April 29.

Ravi Shankar: A Life In Music will give music lovers a rare glimpse into the Grammy-winning sitar virtuoso’s early life and his impact on world music.

“We have donated some 10 sitars, including one from the 1930s. There are many things, concert photos, hand-written letters and notes. I have been collecting stuff madly. It is one-of-a-kind exhibition and is open for a year. An entire floor is dedicated for it,” Sukanya told PTI over phone from her San Diego home.

Besides the exhibition, a tribute was organised by his disciples and other musicians in Delhi on his birthday (April 7).

In his long career Shankar collaborated with other great artistes like Yehudi Menuhin, Philip Glass, John Coltrane, and The Beatles’ George Harrison, who called the sitar maestro ‘The Godfather of World Music’. Shankar was awarded the Bharat Ratna in 1999. Sukanya said Ravi Shankar’s contribution to Indian music will continue to inspire others.