Pundit Ravishankar |
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EVENTS for this HERO
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Pt. Ravi Shankar was an Indian musician and composer, who used to play the sitar. He has been described as the best-known contemporary Indian musician.
Pt Ravi Shankar was born as Robindro Shaunkar Chowdhury on 7 April 1920 in Varanasi, to a Bengali Brahmin family. At the age of ten, after spending his first decade in Varanasi, Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar. Uday's dance group toured Europe and the United States in the early to mid-1930s and Shankar learned French, discovered Western classical music, jazz, cinema and became acquainted with Western customs.
In 1938, he studied under his guru, Allaudin Khan. In the year 1939, Ravi Shankar gave his first public performance in India. His formal training concluded in the year 1944 and he moved out of Bombay. He then started a recording career with HMV and began composing ballads, scores for films. He performed in Soviet Union in 1953 and many other prestigious events like Edinburgh Festival and also at important places like Royal Festival Hall, London.
Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music.
In the year 1965, George Harrison, a member of the band The Beatles began experimenting with the Sitar. Consequently, the two musicians met and their interest in the Sitar made them really good friends. Ravi Shankar's career got instant boost as he came to be known as Harrison's mentor. He got many opportunities to showcase his skill as a classical musician in events like Monterey Pop Festival, California (1967) along with the tabla maestro Ustad Allah Rakha. Ravi Shankar also performed an opening act during George Harrison's U.S tour in the year 1974. George Harrison fondly calls him the Godfather of World Music.
Shankar won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the Festival for composing the music for the movie Kabuliwala. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962, and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975. Shankar was awarded the three highest national civil honours of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999. He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975, three Grammy Awards.
But his life has not all been easy. His mother died when he was very young. There were tremendous professional struggles during his youth. There was the failed first marriage to Annapurna Devi, and the premature death of his son. These difficulties would be hard for many people to bear.
However, in later years his personal life has settled down. He was married to Sukanya, and their daughter Anoushka Shankar, is a respected sitarist in her own right. One other daughter who has made a very big name for herself is the Nora Jones, the famous singer.
I admire Pt Ravishankar as a musician and as a global ambassador of peace and goodwill.
On 6 December 2012, Shankar was admitted to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, San Diego, California after complaining of breathing difficulties. We lost him on 11 December 2012.
R.I.P. Pt. Ravi Shankar
Research gathered from guardian.co and original sketch by Deepika SMS INDIA.
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