Ravi Shankar 2010 Ravi Shankar Images

Infobox musical artist

Name = Ravi Shankar
Img = Ravi Shankar 2009 crop.jpg
Img_alt = An old man sits on a platform and holds a long-necked lute while looking to the side.
Img_capt = Shankar performs in Delhi in March 2009
Img_size =
Background = non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth_name = Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury
Born =
Varanasi, United Provinces, British Raj
Died =
Instrument = ''sitar''
Genre = Hindustani classical music
Occupation = composer, musician
Years_active = 1939–present
Label =
URL = RaviShankar.org
Associated_acts = Uday Shankar, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, Chatur Lal, Alla Rakha, Anoushka Shankar
Ravi Shankar (; born 7 April 1920), often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument ''sitar''. He has been described as the most well known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff of ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart''. Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study ''sitar'' playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the ''Apu Trilogy'' by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956. In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for ''sitar'' and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

Early life

Shankar was born 7 April 1920 in Varanasi to a wealthy and conservative Brahmin family of cultured Bengalis as the youngest of seven brothers, of whom four lived when he was born. Shyam was married to Shankar's mother Hemangini Devi, but later worked as a lawyer in London. There he married a second time while Devi raised Shankar in Varanasi, and did not meet his son until he was eight years old. Shankar shortened the Sanskrit version of his first name, Ravindra, to Ravi, for "sun". 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. Shankar heard the lead musician for the Maihar court, Allauddin Khan, in December 1934 at a music conference in Kolkata and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe. Shankar was sporadically trained by Khan on tour, and Khan offered Shankar training to become a serious musician under the condition that he abandoned touring and came to Maihar.

Career

Training and work in India

Shankar's parents had died by the time he returned from the European tour, and touring the West had become difficult due to political conflicts that would lead to World War II. Shankar completed his training in 1944.

International career 1956–1969

, who was a frequent accompanist of Shankar V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952. Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States. He played for smaller audiences and educated them about Indian music, incorporating ''ragas'' from the South Indian Carnatic music in his performances, and recorded his first LP album ''Three Ragas'' in London, released in 1956. In 1958, Shankar participated in the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO music festival in Paris. Since 1961, he toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films. Chatur Lal accompanied Shankar on ''tabla'' until 1962, when Alla Rakha assumed the role. Shankar befriended Richard Bock, founder of World Pacific Records, on his first American tour and recorded most of his albums in the 1950s and 1960s for Bock's label. This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend. Harrison met Shankar in London in 1966 and visited India for six weeks to study ''sitar'' under Shankar in Srinagar.

International career 1970–present

'' at the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran in the 1970s In October 1970 Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music of the California Institute of the Arts after previously teaching at the City College of New York, the University of California, Los Angeles, and being guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music. During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording ''Shankar Family and Friends'' in 1974 and touring North America to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe. His liberal views on musical cooperation led him to collaboration with contemporary composer Philip Glass, with whom he released an album, ''Passages'', in 1990. Shankar underwent an angioplasty in 1992 due to heart problems, after which George Harrison involved himself in several of Shankar's projects. Shankar played his last European concert in June 2008.

Style and contributions

Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music. His performances begin with solo ''alap'', ''jor'', and ''jhala'' (introduction and performances with pulse and rapid pulse) influenced by the slow and serious ''dhrupad'' genre, followed by a section with ''tabla'' accompaniment featuring compositions associated with the prevalent ''khyal'' style. Shankar often closes his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical ''thumri'' genre. Shankar has been considered one of the top ''sitar'' players of the second half of the 20th century. Shankar popularized performing on the bass octave of the ''sitar'' for the ''alap'' section, became known for a distinctive quick playing style in the middle and high registers, and his sound creation through stops and strikes on the main playing string. Hans Neuhoff of ''Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' has argued that Shankar's playing style was not widely adopted and that he was surpassed by other ''sitar'' players in the performance of melodic passages. Shankar's interplay with Alla Rakha improved appreciation for ''tabla'' playing in Hindustani classical music. He promoted the ''jugalbandi'' duet concert style and introduced new ''ragas'', including ''Tilak Shyam'', ''Nat Bhairav'' and ''Bairagi''.

Recognition

Shankar was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1962, He is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association.

Personal life and family

in Fes, Morocco, in June 2005 Shankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi in 1941 and a son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942. An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979. In 1981, Anoushka Shankar was born to Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, whom Shankar had known since the 1970s. After separating from Kamala Shastri in 1981 Shankar lived with Sue Jones until 1986 and married Sukanya Rajan in 1989. Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar often accompanied his father on his tours. Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003. Shankar is a Hindu and a vegetarian. He lives with Sukanya in Southern California.

Discography

Bibliography

Notes

References

External links

Persondata

NAME=Shankar, Ravi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=রবি শঙ্কর (Bengali); Shôngkor, Robi (Bengali transliteration)
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Indian classical musician
DATE OF BIRTH=7 April 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH=Varanasi, United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, British Raj
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=