Ravi Shankar
This article is about the musician. For the spiritual leader, see Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. For the music director, see Ravi (music director). For the poet and critic, see Ravi Shankar (poet). Ravi Shankar (
Bengali: রবি শঙ্কর
Robi Shôngkor) (born
April 7 1920 in
Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh,
India) is a
Bengali-
Indian musician best known for his
virtuosity on the
sitar.
A disciple of
Allauddin Khan (founder of the
Maihar gharana of
Indian classical music),
Pandit Ravi Shankar is arguably the best-known Indian instrumentalist, and is well known for his pioneering work in bringing the power and appeal of the Indian classical music tradition, as well as
Indian music and its performers in general, to
the West. This was done through his association with
The Beatles as well as with his own personal charisma. His musical career spans over six decades and Shankar currently holds the
Guinness Record for the longest international career.
His ancestral home is the present day Kalia Upozila in
Narail District,
Jessore,
Bangladesh. His mother's name was Hemanginee, and his elder brother
Uday Shankar was a famous Indian classical
dancer. As a teenager Ravi played sitar with Uday Shankar's dance troupe, most notably with
Anna Pavlova in the Soviet Union.
Ravi Shankar gave up a possible dance career, and starting in 1938 he spent long years of dedicated study under his guru
Allaudin Khan. His first public performances in India came in 1939. Formal training ended in 1944 and he worked out of
Bombay. He began writing scores for
film and
ballet and started a recording career with
HMV's Indian affiliate. He became music director of
All India Radio in the 1950s.
Ravi Shankar then became well known to the music world outside India, first performing in the
Soviet Union in 1954 and then the West in 1956. He performed in major events such as the
Edinburgh Festival as well as major venues such as
Royal Festival Hall.
George Harrison, a member of
The Beatles, began experimenting with the
sitar in 1965. The two eventually met due to this common interest and became close friends, and that in turn expanded Shankar's fame as a pop star and as Harrison's mentor. This development greatly expanded his career. He was invited to play venues that were unusual for a classical musician, such as the 1967
Monterey Pop Festival in
Monterey, California, with
Ustad Alla Rakha on
tabla. He was also one of the artists who performed at the
Woodstock Festival in 1969 and
The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971. Ravi Shankar & Friends was also the opening act for Harrison's 1974 tour of the United States.
Ravi Shanker has been critical of some facets of the Western reception of Indian music. On a trip to San Francisco's
Haight-Ashbury district after performing in Monterey, Shankar wrote "I felt offended and shocked to see India being regarded so superficially and its great culture being exploited. Yoga, Tantra, mantra, kundalini, ganja, hashish, Kama Sutra? They all became part of a cocktail that everyone seemed to be lapping up!" In 1969 he published an
English language autobiography,
My Music, My Life.
Ravi Shankar has written two concertos for sitar and orchestra, violin-sitar compositions for
Yehudi Menuhin and himself, music for flute virtuoso
Jean Pierre Rampal, and music for
Hozan Yamamoto, master of the
shakuhachi (Japanese flute), and
koto virtuoso
Musumi Miyashita. He has composed extensively for films and ballets in India, Canada, Europe, and the United States, including
Chappaqua,
Charly,
Gandhi, and the
Apu Trilogy. His recording
Tana Mana, released on the
Private Music label in 1987, penetrated the
New Age genre with its unique combination of traditional instruments with electronics. The classical composer
Philip Glass acknowledges Shankar as a major influence, and the two collaborated to produce
Passages, a recording of compositions in which each reworks themes composed by the other. Shankar also composed the sitar part in Glass's 2004 composition
Orion.
When Ravi Shankar was 21, he married 14-year-old
Annapurna Devi, daughter of his guru
Baba Allauddin Khan and sister of
Ali Akbar Khan in
Almora. The marriage produced one son,
Shubhendra Shankar, but ended in divorce.
He became involved with American concert promoter Sue Jones but they did not marry. Their union, however, produced one daughter, recording artist
Norah Jones. He later married an admirer, Sukanya Kotiyan (born Rajan), with whom he had a second daughter named
Anoushka. Anoushka is a sitarist and performs frequently with Shankar, in addition to having her own recording career. Jones has achieved considerable professional success, including winning several
Grammy Awards. Shankar is also the uncle of the late sitarist
Ananda Shankar.
Ravi Shankar has homes in both
Encinitas, California and
New Delhi, India.
Shankar is an honorary member of the
American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a member of the
United Nations International Rostrum of Composers. He has received many awards and honours from his own country and from all over the world, including fourteen
honorary doctorates, the
Padma Vibhushan,
Desikottam, the
Magsaysay Award from Manila, two
Grammy Awards, the
Fukuoka Grand Prize from Japan, and the Crystal Award from Davos, with the title "Global Ambassador", to name but some. In 1986 he was nominated to be a member of the
Rajya Sabha, India's upper house of Parliament, for six years. In 2002, he was conferred the inaugural Indian Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award. The
Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour, was awarded to him in 1999. In 1998 he was awarded the
Polar Music Prize with
Ray Charles.
Raga (1971). Directed by
Howard Worth.
The Concert for Bangladesh (1972).
Concert for George (2003).
Rag Mala (1997) (Autobiography edited by
George Harrison)
Learning Indian music: A systematic approach (1979)My Music, My Life (1968) (Autobiography)
Music memory (1967)*
Ravi Shankar Official Website*
His autobiography - My Music, My Life*
Audio excerpts from a 2000 interview for the BBC*
Ravi Shankar Interview*
Stream and interview of his 80th birthday*
EMI Biography*
Guinness Record for longest International Career*
Sestina by Shankar
