Ravi Shankar, Indian music’s ambassador, takes final bow
Maestro Ravi Shankar, the ‘godfather of world music’, died on Tuesday night at his home in San Diego, California. He was 92. “It is with heavy hearts we write to inform you that Pandit Ravi Shankar, husband, father and a musical soul, passed away today,” said his wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka in a joint statement.
He had been suffering from upper-respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent a heart-valve replacement surgery on Thursday.
Shankar, who introduced the West to Indian classical music and influenced western musicians, such as the iconic band, The Beatles — in fact, George Harrison, one of the band’s icons, called him godfather — last performed on November 4.
He is survived by his wife Sukanya, daughters Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar Wright — both musicians — three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
A recipient of Bharat Ratna in 1996 and a three-time Grammy award winner, Shankar maintained residences in both India and the US. Life and times
He was also nominated for the 2013 Grammys for his album, The Living Room Sessions Part-1, and was pitted against Anoushka in the same category.
Born Robindra Shankar in 1920, the youngest of four brothers in Varanasi, he met his father, a globetrotting lawyer, only when he was eight and started out touring the world with his elder brother, Uday Shankar's dance troupe.
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