Indian music luminaries paid tributes to ‘godfather of world music’ and Grammy winning composer Ravi Shankar, who helped introduce the sitar to the Western world through his collaborations with The Beatles.
Shankar died in Southern California on Tuesday (December 11), his family said. He was 92.
A three-time Grammy winner with legendary appearances at the 1967 Monterey Festival and at Woodstock, Shankar had been in fragile health for several years and last Thursday underwent surgery, his family said in a statement.
Shankar had suffered from upper respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery last week at a hospital in San Diego, south of Los Angeles. The surgery was successful but he was unable to recover and passed away on Tuesday evening (US time).
The surgery was successful, but he was unable to recover.
Some of the leading exponents of the classical Indian art forms mourned his death.
Indian classical singer and Ravi Shankar’s contemporary, Shanti Hiranand said his music had a spellbinding effect, one could almost feel like being hit by a thunderbolt while listening to him.
“Ravi Shankar, I met many a times. In fact, his first recording in US is with me, first concert, which he did in US as a young man. He was a great artist, I mean he took sitar to the world and today that sitar is being played all over the world is all because of him.”
He was described as “the godfather of world music” by George Harrison, the Beatles” lead guitarist.
Even though he was a legend in the Western world, he was always drawn back to the revered traditions of the sitar.