World music loses Indian connect
13 Dec 2012 7:52 AM IST
Legendary sitar player Pandit Ravi Shankar, who spearheaded the worldwide spread of Indian music, died on Wednesday in San Diego in the US at the age of 92. He was dubbed the ‘godfather of world music’ by the late Beatle George Harrison and the two shared a camaraderie that ended only with Harrison’s death in 2001.
Shankar, whose health had been fragile for the past several years, underwent heart-valve replacement surgery on Thursday at the Scripps Memorial Hospital in California where he breathed his last. ‘It is with heavy hearts we write to inform you that Pandit Ravi Shankar, husband, father, and musical soul, passed away today,’ his wife and daughter, Sukanya and Anoushka Shankar, said in a joint statement. The musician, who had a substantial influence on The Beatles, is survived by his wife Sukanya; daughter Norah Jones; daughter Anoushka Shankar Wright and her husband Joe Wright; three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
A Bengali, he was born Robindra Shankar on 7 April, 1920 in Varanasi. The youngest of four brothers he spent his first 10 years in relative poverty and was brought up by his mother. In 1930, his eldest brother Uday Shankar uprooted the family to Paris, and over the next eight years Shankar enjoyed the limelight in Uday’s troupe, which toured the world introducing Europeans and Americans to Indian classical and folk dance. He then moved back to India and studied the sitar under Alauddin Khan for 7 years.
Collaboration with the Beatles, especially at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, made Shankar a household name in the West. In fact, a lifelong friendship probably prompted Harrison to participate in two record albums, ‘Shankar Family & Friends’ and ‘Festival of India’ both composed by Shankar.
Shankar also authored violin-sitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin.
Shankar also composed for ballets and films in India, Canada, Europe and the United States and films like ‘Charly,’ ‘Gandhi,’ and the ‘Apu Trilogy’ saw him doing ethereal scores based on Indian classical music. A Magsaysay award winner, Shankar was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1986. But he will be remembered perhaps more as an ambassador of Indian culture and most definitely, Indian classical music.
Shankar, whose health had been fragile for the past several years, underwent heart-valve replacement surgery on Thursday at the Scripps Memorial Hospital in California where he breathed his last. ‘It is with heavy hearts we write to inform you that Pandit Ravi Shankar, husband, father, and musical soul, passed away today,’ his wife and daughter, Sukanya and Anoushka Shankar, said in a joint statement. The musician, who had a substantial influence on The Beatles, is survived by his wife Sukanya; daughter Norah Jones; daughter Anoushka Shankar Wright and her husband Joe Wright; three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
A Bengali, he was born Robindra Shankar on 7 April, 1920 in Varanasi. The youngest of four brothers he spent his first 10 years in relative poverty and was brought up by his mother. In 1930, his eldest brother Uday Shankar uprooted the family to Paris, and over the next eight years Shankar enjoyed the limelight in Uday’s troupe, which toured the world introducing Europeans and Americans to Indian classical and folk dance. He then moved back to India and studied the sitar under Alauddin Khan for 7 years.
Collaboration with the Beatles, especially at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, made Shankar a household name in the West. In fact, a lifelong friendship probably prompted Harrison to participate in two record albums, ‘Shankar Family & Friends’ and ‘Festival of India’ both composed by Shankar.
Shankar also authored violin-sitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin.
Shankar also composed for ballets and films in India, Canada, Europe and the United States and films like ‘Charly,’ ‘Gandhi,’ and the ‘Apu Trilogy’ saw him doing ethereal scores based on Indian classical music. A Magsaysay award winner, Shankar was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1986. But he will be remembered perhaps more as an ambassador of Indian culture and most definitely, Indian classical music.
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