Description: AN EXTREMELY SCARCE 2 PAGE CONTRACT 8.5X11 FROM 1968 SIGNED BY LEGENDARY SITAR PLAYER FROM INDIA RAVI SHANKAR. SELMUR PRODUCTIONS INC. TO KINNAR ASCHOOL OF INDIAN MUSIC, INC. SIGNED BY RAVI SHANKAR ON 2ND PAGE FOR AMENDING A CONTRACT FOR HIS CONNECTION WITH THE MOVIE "CHARLY". HE WILL PROVIDE A FEATURETTE, FOOTAGE, CONSULTING NANCY BACAL OR BEN SHA[IRO IN DIRECTING THE SHOOTING The Kinnara School of Music was a music school founded in Bombay, India, in 1962 by Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar. With his increased popularity and influence in the West, he opened a second branch of the school in Los Angeles in May 1967. Shankar's concept for Kinnara was to further the strict guru–shishya tradition of musical education that he had experienced under his teacher, Allauddin Khan, in the 1940s. The Bombay centre staged productions of orchestral works by Shankar, including Nava Rasa Ranga. The Kinnara School of Music was a music school founded in Bombay, India, in 1962 by Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar. With his increased popularity and influence in the West, he opened a second branch of the school in Los Angeles in May 1967.[1][2] Shankar's concept for Kinnara was to further the strict guru–shishya tradition of musical education that he had experienced under his teacher, Allauddin Khan, in the 1940s. The Bombay centre staged productions of orchestral works by Shankar, including Nava Rasa Ranga.[3] Due to Shankar's busy international schedule of concerts and recording, everyday tuition at Kinnara was delegated to protégés such as Shambhu Das and Amiyo Das Gupta.[4] Among the students at Kinnara was Beatles guitarist George Harrison, who received sitar tuition from Shankar and Shambhu Das in Bombay in late 1966.[5][6] During a visit to London that year, Shankar said that, given the widespread fascination for Indian music at the time, he was concerned that "people who don't really understand the sitar will cash in on the sudden interest" by offering newcomers lessons on the instrument. Shankar added that he would consider opening a school in the UK, where his most advanced students could teach, but only if he was sure that the interest there was genuine.[7] Harrison attracted publicity for the Los Angeles school when he and Shankar gave a press conference there in August 1967,[8] which helped promote Shankar's upcoming concert at the Hollywood Bowl.[9][10] Other students attending the Los Angeles centre included Robby Krieger[11] and John Densmore of the Doors,[12] and American musicians Russ Titelman[13] and Colin Walcott.[14][15] Scenes filmed at both the Bombay and Los Angeles schools over 1967–68 appeared in Howard Worth's 1971 documentary on Shankar, titled Raga.[16] Shankar's teacher, or guru, Allauddin KhanShankar viewed the Los Angeles centre as a base from which he could also educate the American public about Indian music.[17] When opening the school there, he emphasised the need to recognise the sacred aspect of Indian classical music,[18] which was defined by Allauddin Khan's phrase "Nada Brahma" ("Sound is God").[19] He subsequently became disappointed with the impatience and lack of focus displayed by the majority of his Western students.[20] He said that in many cases, as with his concert audiences in the United States,[21] their motives were based on the misconception that Indian music was allied with the hippie movement's espousal of hallucinogenic drugs and free love.[20][22] Shankar identified Colin Walcott as an exception, calling him "really serious" and "my first American disciple".[20] He also said of Harrison, despite the Beatle eventually relinquishing the sitar:[23] "[Indian music] was not a fad for him, he loved it until the end and became very very dear to me."[24] Shankar with one of his students, sarodya Partho Sarothy, in January 1985Along with his students and protégés from India,[24] including Das Gupta, Shamim Ahmed and Taranath Rao, Walcott was one of the musicians Shankar selected for his 1968 Festival from India orchestra.[25] Walcott also contributed to Shankar's Raga film soundtrack;[26] titled "Frenzy and Distortion", his piece combined Western and Indian sounds, and evoked the clash of cultures and ideology that Shankar experienced during the height of his popularity in the West.[27][28] Some of the musicians who participated in the Festival from India project stayed on to teach at Kinnara.[29] By 1969, Shankar was disillusioned with the Los Angeles school and entrusted its running to Das Gupta.[20] Shankar continued to tutor Western musicians, having previously held temporary positions at the City College of New York and the University of California, Los Angeles, and having been a guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music.[30] In October 1970, Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music at the California Institute of the Arts.[31] Later, he focused on teaching sitar to his daughter Anoushka Shankar, applying the traditional guru–shishya principles to her musical education.[32] Among other educational projects, he founded the Ravi Shankar Institute of Music and the Performing Arts in New Delhi.[33] avi Shankar, the Indian musician and composer, best known for his superlative skills as a sitar player, has passed away, aged 92. He died in the Scripps Memorial Hospital in San Diego with his family by his side, having undergone surgery there last week. In a statement given to Reuters, his wife Sukanya and daughter Anoushka, herself a renowned sitarist, said: "Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the surgeons and doctors taking care of him, his body was not able to withstand the strain of the surgery." Born in Varanasi in 1920, Shankar danced in his brother Uday's troupe until he was 18, when he took up the sitar. He went on to play his first concert in 1939 before embarking on what would be a relentless musical career, first composing and producing music for the films Dharti ke Lal and Neecha Nagar and the ballet The Discovery Of India in the mid-1940s. He went on to become arguably the greatest contemporary exponent of the instrument, playing at the Monterey Pop Festival, the Concert For Bangladesh and Woodstock as well as famously teaching the sitar to George Harrison, who called Shankar "the godfather of world music", which resulted in the 1974 album Shankar Family & Friends. He also went on to establish a number of educational establishments, first the Kinnara School of Music in Bombay and Los Angeles, followed by the Ravi Shankar Institute of Music and the Performing Arts in New Delhi. He was consequently awarded with the Bharat Ratna, the highest Indian civil recognition, as well an honorary knighthood from Britain and membership of the American Academy Of Arts And Letters. The family added in their statement: "Although it is a time for sorrow and sadness, it is also a time for all of us to give thanks and to be grateful that we were able to have him as a part of our lives. He will live forever in our hearts and in his music." Ravi Shankar KBE (Bengali pronunciation: [ˈrobi ˈʃɔŋkor]; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury,[2] spelled Ravindra Shankar Chowdhury in Sanskrit;[3] 7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012), whose name is often preceded by the title Pandit (Master), was an Indian sitar virtuoso and a composer. He became the world's best-known exponent of North Indian classical music, in the second half of the 20th century,[4] and influenced many other musicians throughout the world. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999. Shankar was born to a Bengali Brahmin family[5][6] in India,[7] and spent his youth as a dancer touring India and Europe 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, Shankar began to tour Europe and the Americas playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and Beatles guitarist George Harrison. His influence on Harrison helped popularize the use of Indian instruments in Western pop music in the latter half of the 1960s. Shankar engaged Western music by writing compositions for sitar and orchestra, and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992, he served as a nominated member of Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. He continued to perform until the end of his life. Contents1Early life2Career2.1Training and work in India2.21956–1969: International performances2.31970–2012: International performances2.4Collaboration with George Harrison3Style and contributions4Awards4.1Indian Government honours4.2Other governmental and academic honours4.3Arts awards4.4Other honours and tributes5Personal life and family6Illness and death7Discography8Bibliography9Notes10References11Sources12External linksEarly lifeShankar was born on 7 April 1920 in Benares, then the capital of the eponymous princely state, in a Bengali family, as the youngest of seven brothers.[3][8][9] His father, Shyam Shankar Chowdhury, was a Middle Temple barrister and scholar from East Bengal (now Bangladesh). A respected statesman, lawyer and politician, he served for several years as dewan (Prime minister) of Jhalawar, Rajasthan, and used the Sanskrit spelling of the family name and removed its last part.[3][10] Shyam was married to Hemangini Devi who hailed from a small village named Nasrathpur in Mardah block of Ghazipur district, near Benares and her father was a prosperous landlord. Shyam later worked as a lawyer in London, England,[3] and there he married a second time while Devi raised Shankar in Benares, and did not meet his son until he was eight years old.[3] Shankar shortened the Sanskrit version of his first name, Ravindra, to Ravi, for "sun".[3] Shankar had five siblings: Uday (who became a famous choreographer and dancer), Rajendra, Debendra and Bhupendra. Shankar attended the Bengalitola High School in Benares between 1927 and 1928.[11] At the age of 10, after spending his first decade in Benares, Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar.[12][13] By the age of 13 he had become a member of the group, accompanied its members on tour and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments.[8][9] Uday's dance group travelled 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.[14] Shankar heard Allauddin Khan – the lead musician at the court of the princely state of Maihar – play at a music conference in December 1934 in Calcutta, and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar H.H Maharaja Brijnath singh Judev in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe.[14] Shankar was sporadically trained by Khan on tour, and Khan offered Shankar training to become a serious musician under the condition that he abandon touring and come to Maihar.[14] CareerTraining and work in India Shankar at a meeting with Satyajit Ray for the sound production of Pather Panchali (1955)Shankar's parents had died by the time he returned from the Europe tour, and touring the West had become difficult because of political conflicts that would lead to World War II.[15] Shankar gave up his dancing career in 1938 to go to Maihar and study Indian classical music as Khan's pupil, living with his family in the traditional gurukul system.[12] Khan was a rigorous teacher and Shankar had training on sitar and surbahar, learned ragas and the musical styles dhrupad, dhamar, and khyal, and was taught the techniques of the instruments rudra veena, rubab, and sursingar.[12][16] He often studied with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.[15] Shankar began to perform publicly on sitar in December 1939 and his debut performance was a jugalbandi (duet) with Ali Akbar Khan, who played the string instrument sarod.[17] Shankar completed his training in 1944.[8] He moved to Mumbai and joined the Indian People's Theatre Association, for whom he composed music for ballets in 1945 and 1946.[8][18] Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" at the age of 25.[19][20] He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from February 1949 until January 1956.[8] Shankar founded the Indian National Orchestra at AIR and composed for it; in his compositions he combined Western and classical Indian instrumentation.[21] Beginning in the mid-1950s he composed the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, which became internationally acclaimed.[9][22] He was music director for several Hindi movies including Godaan and Anuradha.[23] 1956–1969: International performances Concert flier, 1967V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952.[24] Shankar had performed as part of a cultural delegation in the Soviet Union in 1954 and Menuhin invited Shankar in 1955 to perform in New York City for a demonstration of Indian classical music, sponsored by the Ford Foundation.[25][26][a] Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.[28] 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.[28] In 1958, Shankar participated in the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO music festival in Paris.[18] From 1961, he toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films.[18][b] Shankar founded the Kinnara School of Music in Mumbai in 1962.[29] 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.[28] The Byrds recorded at the same studio and heard Shankar's music, which led them to incorporate some of its elements in theirs, introducing the genre to their friend George Harrison of the Beatles.[30][31] In 1967, Shankar performed a well-received set at the Monterey Pop Festival.[32][33][34] While complementary of the talents of several of the rock artists at the festival, he said he was "horrified" to see Jimi Hendrix set fire to his guitar on stage:[35] "That was too much for me. In our culture, we have such respect for musical instruments, they are like part of God."[36] Shankar's live album from Monterey peaked at number 43 on Billboard's pop LPs chart in the US, which remains the highest placing he achieved on that chart.[37] Shankar won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for West Meets East, a collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin.[38][39][40] He opened a Western branch of the Kinnara School of Music in Los Angeles, in May 1967, and published an autobiography, My Music, My Life, in 1968.[18][29] In 1968, he composed the score for the film Charly. He performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, and found he disliked the venue.[39] In the late 1960s, Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement and drug culture:[41][42] He explained during an interview: It makes me feel rather hurt when I see the association of drugs with our music. The music to us is religion. The quickest way to reach godliness is through music. I don't like the association of one bad thing with the music.[43] 1970–2012: International performancesIn 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.[18][44][45] In late 1970, the London Symphony Orchestra invited Shankar to compose a concerto with sitar. Concerto for Sitar & Orchestra was performed with André Previn as conductor and Shankar playing the sitar.[9][46][c] Shankar performed at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, held at Madison Square Garden in New York. After the musicians had tuned up on stage for over a minute, the crowd of rock-music fans broke into applause, to which the amused Shankar responded, "If you like our tuning so much, I hope you will enjoy the playing more."[citation needed] Although interest in Indian music had decreased in the early 1970s, the live album from the concert became one of the best-selling recordings to feature the genre and won Shankar a second Grammy Award.[40][45] As for Shankar and the sitar, they are extensions one of the other, each seeming to enter into the other's soul in one of the world's supreme musical arts. It is a thing inimitable, beyond words and forever new. For, as Shankar explained, 90 percent of all the music played was improvised.Paul Hume,music editor, Washington Post[48]Shankar's demanding tour schedule weakened his health, and he suffered a heart attack in Chicago in November 1974, causing him to miss a portion of the tour.[49][d] The touring band visited the White House on invitation of John Gardner Ford, son of US President Gerald Ford.[49] Shankar toured and taught for the remainder of the 1970s and the 1980s and released his second concerto, Raga Mala, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in 1981.[50][51][52] Shankar was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for his work on the 1982 movie Gandhi. [e] He performed in Moscow in 1988,[54][55] with 140 musicians, including the Russian Folk Ensemble and members of the Moscow Philharmonic, along with his own group of Indian musicians.[54] He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 12 May 1986 to 11 May 1992, after being nominated by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.[20][56] Shankar composed the dance drama Ghanashyam in 1989.[29] His liberal views on musical co-operation led him to contemporary composer Philip Glass, with whom he released an album, Passages, in 1990,[12] in a project initiated by Peter Baumann of the band Tangerine Dream. Shankar performing with Anoushka Shankar in 2007Because of the positive response to Shankar's 1996 career compilation In Celebration, Shankar wrote a second autobiography, Raga Mala.[57] He performed between 25 and 40 concerts every year during the late 1990s.[12] Shankar taught his daughter Anoushka Shankar to play sitar and in 1997 became a Regents' Professor at University of California, San Diego.[58][59] He performed with Anoushka for the BBC in 1997 at the Symphony Hall in Birmingham, England.[60] In the 2000s, he won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000 and toured with Anoushka, who released a book about her father, Bapi: Love of My Life, in 2002.[40][61][f] After George Harrison's death in 2001, Mr. Shankar performed at the Concert for George, a celebration of Harrison's music staged at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 2002.[64] In June 2008, Shankar played what was billed as his last European concert,[41] but his 2011 tour included dates in the United Kingdom.[65][66] On 1 July 2010, at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall, London, England, Anoushka Shankar, on sitar, performed with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by David Murphy, which was billed the first Symphony by Ravi Shankar.[g] Collaboration with George Harrison George Harrison, US President Gerald Ford, and Ravi Shankar in the Oval Office in December 1974Beatles guitarist George Harrison, who was first introduced to Shankar's music by American singers Roger McGuinn and David Crosby,[69]:113 who were big fans of Shankar, became influenced by Shankar's music. He went on to help popularize Shankar and the use of Indian instruments in pop music throughout the 1960s.[70] Olivia Harrison explains: When George heard Indian music, that really was the trigger, it was like a bell that went off in his head. It not only awakened a desire to hear more music, but also to understand what was going on in Indian philosophy. It was a unique diversion.[69]:114 Harrison became interested in Indian classical music, bought a sitar and used it to record the song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".[71] In 1968, he went to India to take lessons from Shankar, some of which were captured on film.[72] This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and popularised the raga rock trend.[71] As the sitar and Indian music grew in popularity, groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Animals and the Byrds began using it in some of their songs.[54] The influence even extended to blues musicians such as Michael Bloomfield, who created a raga-influenced improvisation number, "East-West" (Bloomfield scholars have cited its working title as "The Raga" when Bloomfield and his collaborator Nick Gravenites began to develop the idea) for the Butterfield Blues Band in 1966. I think Ravi was rather taken aback, because he was a classical musician, and rock and roll was really out of his sphere. He thought it rather amusing that George took to him so much, but he and George really bonded. Ravi realised that it wasn't just a fashion for George, that he had dedication. Ravi had such integrity, and was someone to be respected, and at the same time huge fun. George hadn't really met anyone like that, and he really encouraged his interest.Patti Boyd[69]:119Harrison met Shankar in London in June 1966 and visited India later that year for six weeks to study sitar under Shankar in Srinagar.[20][39][73] During the visit, a documentary film about Shankar named Raga was shot by Howard Worth and released in 1971.[74][75] Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity, and decades later Ken Hunt of AllMusic wrote that Shankar had become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by 1966.[8][39] George Harrison organized the charity Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, in which Shankar participated.[39][76] During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording Shankar Family & Friends in 1973 and touring North America the following year to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe with the Harrison-sponsored Music Festival from India.[77] Shankar wrote a second autobiography, Raga Mala, with Harrison as editor. Style and contributionsFile:Ravi Shankar - Madhuvanti.ogvShankar plays the raga Madhuvanti at the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran in the 1970sShankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music.[12] 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.[12] Shankar often closed his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical thumri genre.[12] Shankar has been considered one of the top sitar players of the second half of the 20th century.[47] He popularised performing on the bass octave of the sitar for the alap section and became known for a distinctive playing style in the middle and high registers that used quick and short deviations of the playing string and his sound creation through stops and strikes on the main playing string.[12][47] Narayana Menon of The New Grove Dictionary noted Shankar's fondness for rhythmic novelties, among them the use of unconventional rhythmic cycles.[78] 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.[47] Shankar's interplay with Alla Rakha improved appreciation for tabla playing in Hindustani classical music.[47] Shankar promoted the jugalbandi duet concert style. Shankar introduced at least 31 new ragas, including Nat Bhairav,[79] Ahir Lalit, Rasiya, Yaman Manjh, Gunji Kanhara, Janasanmodini, Tilak Shyam, Bairagi,[12][80] Mohan Kauns, Manamanjari, Mishra Gara, Pancham Se Gara, Purvi Kalyan, Kameshwari, Gangeshwari, Rangeshwari, Parameshwari, Palas Kafi, Jogeshwari, Charu Kauns, Kaushik Todi, Bairagi Todi, Bhawani Bhairav, Sanjh Kalyan, Shailangi, Suranjani, Rajya Kalyan, Banjara, Piloo Banjara, Suvarna, Doga Kalyan, Nanda Dhwani, and Natacharuka (for Anoushka).[81][82] In 2011, at a concert recorded and released in 2012 as Tenth Decade in Concert: Ravi Shankar Live in Escondido, Shankar introduced an new percussive sitar technique called Goonga Sitar, whereby the strings are muffled with a cloth.[83] Awards Ravi Shankar in Delhi in 2009Indian Government honoursBharat Ratna (1999)[84]Padma Vibhushan (1981)[85]Padma Bhushan (1967)[85]Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (1962)[86]Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (1975)[87]Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987–88[88]Other governmental and academic honoursRamon Magsaysay Award (1992)[89]Commander of the Legion of Honour of France (2000)[90]Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) for "services to music" (2001)[91]Honorary degrees from universities in India and the United States.[18]Honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and LettersHonorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Melbourne, Australia (2010)[92]Arts awards1964 fellowship from the John D. Rockefeller 3rd FundSilver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival (for composing the music for the movie Kabuliwala).[93]UNESCO International Music Council (1975)Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize (1991)[94]Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association (1997)[12]Polar Music Prize (1998)[95]Five Grammy Awards1967: Best Chamber Music Performance – West Meets East (with Yehudi Menuhin)1973: Album of the Year – The Concert for Bangladesh (with George Harrison)2002: Best World Music Album – Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 20002013: Best World Music Album – The Living Room Sessions Pt. 1Lifetime Achievement Award received at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards[96]Nominated for an Academy Award.[18][40][53]Posthumous nomination in the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for his album "The Living Room Sessions Part 2".[97]First recipient of the Tagore Award in recognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony and universal values (2013; posthumous)[98]Other honours and tributesAmerican jazz saxophonist John Coltrane named his son Ravi Coltrane after Shankar.[99]On 7 April 2016 (his 96th birthday), Google published a Google Doodle to honour his work.[100] Google commented: "Shankar evangelized the use of Indian instruments in Western music, introducing the atmospheric hum of the sitar to audiences worldwide. Shankar's music popularized the fundamentals of Indian music, including raga, a melodic form and widely influenced popular music in the 1960s and 70s.".[101]Personal life and familyShankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi (Roshanara Khan) in 1941 and their son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942.[16] He separated from Devi during 1962 and continued a relationship with Kamala Shastri, a dancer, that had begun in the late 1940s.[102] An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979.[102] He separated from Shastri in 1981 and lived with Jones until 1986. An affair with Sukanya Rajan, whom he had known since the 1970s,[102] led to the birth of their daughter Anoushka Shankar in 1981. In 1989, he married Sukanya Rajan at Chilkur Temple in Hyderabad.[103] Shankar's son, Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar, often accompanied him on tours.[104] He could play the sitar and surbahar, but elected not to pursue a solo career. Shubhendra died of pneumonia in 1992.[104] Ananda Shankar, the experimental fusion musician, is his nephew. Norah Jones became a successful musician in the 2000s, winning eight Grammy Awards in 2003.[105] Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003.[105] Anoushka and her father were both nominated for Best World Music Album at the 2013 Grammy Awards for separate albums.[106] Shankar was a Hindu,[107] and a devotee of the Hindu god Hanuman. He was also an "ardent devotee" of the revered Bengali Hindu saint, Sri Anandamayi Ma. Shankar used to visit Anandamayi Ma frequently and performed for her on various occasions. Shankar wrote of his hometown, Benares (Varanasi), and his initial encounter with "Ma": Varanasi is the eternal abode of Lord Shiva, and one of my favorite temples is that of Lord Hanuman, the monkey god. The city is also where one of the miracles that have happened in my life took place: I met Ma Anandamayi, a great spiritual soul. Seeing the beauty of her face and mind, I became her ardent devotee. Sitting at home now in Encinitas, in Southern California, at the age of 88, surrounded by the beautiful greens, multi-colored flowers, blue sky, clean air, and the Pacific Ocean, I often reminisce about all the wonderful places I have seen in the world. I cherish the memories of Paris, New York, and a few other places. But Varanasi seems to be etched in my heart![108] In his later years, Shankar became a vegetarian.[109] He wore a large diamond ring which he said was "manifested" by Sathya Sai Baba.[110] He lived with Sukanya in Encinitas, California.[111] Shankar performed his final concert, with daughter Anoushka, on 4 November 2012 at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach, California. Illness and deathOn 9 December 2012, Shankar was admitted to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, San Diego, California after complaining of breathing difficulties. He died on 11 December 2012 at around 16:30 PST after undergoing heart valve replacement surgery.[112][113] The Swara Samrat festival, organized on 5–6 January 2013 and dedicated to Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, included performances by such musicians as Shivkumar Sharma, Birju Maharaj, Hariprasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain, and Girija Devi.[114] DiscographyMain article: Ravi Shankar discography Ravi Shankar, in full Ravindra Shankar Chowdhury, (born April 7, 1920, Benares [now Varanasi], India—died December 11, 2012, San Diego, California, U.S.), Indian musician, player of the sitar, composer, and founder of the National Orchestra of India, who was influential in stimulating Western appreciation of Indian music. Ravi ShankarQUICK FACTSRavi ShankarBORNApril 7, 1920Varanasi, IndiaDIEDDecember 11, 2012 (aged 92)San Diego, CaliforniaNOTABLE WORKS“Raga Mala”AWARDS AND HONORSGrammy Award (2001)Polar Music Prize (1998)Praemium Imperiale (1997)Grammy Award (1972)Grammy Award (1967)FOUNDER OFIndiaNOTABLE FAMILY MEMBERSDaughter Norah JonesBrother Uday ShankarBorn into a Bengali Brahman (highest social class in Hindu tradition) family, Shankar spent most of his youth studying music and dance and touring extensively in India and Europe with his brother Uday’s dance troupe. At age 18 Shankar gave up dancing, and for the next seven years he studied the sitar (a long-necked stringed instrument of the lute family) under the noted musician Ustad Allauddin Khan. After serving as music director of All-India Radio from 1948 until 1956, he began a series of European and American tours. Close-up of an old sitar against a colorful background. (music, India)BRITANNICA QUIZ(A Music) Man’s Best FriendFor what instrument did Frederic Chopin principally compose? What instrument did Pablo Casals play? Test your knowledge of plucked strings and pushed keys in this study of musicians and their instruments.In the course of his long career, Shankar became the world’s best-known exponent of Hindustani (North Indian) classical music, performing with India’s most-distinguished percussionists and making dozens of successful recordings. Shankar composed the film scores for the Indian director Satyajit Ray’s famous Apu trilogy (1955–59). In 1962 he founded the Kinnara School of Music in Bombay (now Mumbai) and then established a second Kinnara School in Los Angeles in 1967; he closed both schools some years later, however, having become disenchanted with institutional teaching. Beginning in the 1960s, his concert performances with the American violinist Yehudi Menuhin and his association with George Harrison, lead guitarist of the then wildly popular British musical group the Beatles, helped bring Indian music to the attention of the West. Among the diverse musicians influenced by Shankar’s compositional style were the jazz saxophonist John Coltrane and the composer Philip Glass, with whom Shankar collaborated on the album Passages (1990). Indeed, especially remarkable among Shankar’s accomplishments is his equally expert participation in traditional Indian music and in Indian-influenced Western music. Most characteristic of the latter activity are his concerti for sitar and orchestra, particularly Raga-Mala (“Garland of Ragas”), first performed in 1981. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Subscribe NowDuring his lifetime he won Grammy Awards for the albums West Meets East (1966), a collaboration with Menuhin; The Concert for Bangladesh (1971), a compilation of performances by Shankar, Harrison, Bob Dylan, and others from the benefit concert Shankar inspired Harrison to organize; and Full Circle (2001), a live recording of a performance at Carnegie Hall with his daughter Anoushka Shankar. In 1997 he received the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for music. Shankar continued giving concerts into his 90s, frequently accompanied by Anoushka, who, like her father, specialized in blending Indian and Western traditions. Also a daughter of Shankar is multiple-Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Norah Jones, who found her niche in an eclectic blend of jazz, pop, and country music. Two months after his death, Shankar won a fourth Grammy Award, for an intimate collection of ragas titled The Living Room Sessions Part 1. Also at that time he was honoured with the Recording Academy’s lifetime achievement award. In addition to his strictly musical undertakings, Shankar wrote two autobiographies, published 30 years apart: My Life, My Music (1969) and Raga Mala (1999). Ravi Shankar was an Indian musician and composer best known for popularizing the sitar and Indian classical music in Western culture.Who Was Ravi Shankar?Ravi Shankar was an Indian musician and composer best known for his success in popularizing the sitar. Shankar grew up studying music and toured as a member of his brother's dance troupe. After serving as director of All-India Radio, he began to tour India and the United States and collaborating with many notable musicians, including George Harrison and Philip Glass. Shankar died in California on in 2012, at age 92. Early LifeBorn on April 7, 1920, in Varanasi (also known as Benares), India, Ravi Shankar came into the world as a Brahmin, the highest class of Indians according to the caste system. His city of birth is a well-known destination for Hindu pilgrims and was once described by Mark Twain as "older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and look[ing] twice as old as all of them put together." Shankar lived in Varanasi until the age of 10, when he accompanied his older brother, Uday, to Paris. Uday was a member of a dance troupe called the Compagnie de Danse Musique Hindous (Company of Hindu Dance Music), and the younger Shankar spent his adolescence hearing the rhythms and watching the traditional dances of his culture. Looking back on the time he spent with his brother's dance troupe, Ravi Shankar once recalled, "I keenly listened to our music and observed the reaction of audiences on hearing it. This critical analysis helped me to decide what we should give to Western audiences to make them really respect and appreciate Indian music." At the same time, Shankar was absorbing the musical traditions of the West and attending Parisian schools. This mixture of Indian and Western influences would be apparent in his later compositions, and would help him cultivate the respect and appreciation from Westerners that he sought for Indian music. Early Music CareerAt a music conference in 1934, Shankar met guru and multi-instrumentalist Allaudin Khan, who became his mentor and musical guide for many years. Just two years later, Khan became the soloist for Uday's dance troupe. Shankar went to Maihar, India to study sitar under Khan in 1938. (The sitar is a guitar-like instrument with a long neck, six melody strings and 25 sympathetic strings that resonate as the melody strings are played.) Just one year after he began studying under Khan, Shankar began giving recitals. By this time, Khan had become far more than a music teacher to Shankar — he was also a spiritual and life guide to the young musician. Of his mentor, whom he called "Baba," Shankar once recalled, "Baba himself was a deeply spiritual person. Despite being a devout Muslim, he could be moved by any spiritual path. One morning, in Brussels, I brought him to a cathedral where the choir was singing. The moment we entered, I could see he was in a strange mood. The cathedral had a huge statue of the Virgin Mary. Baba went towards that statue and started howling like a child: 'Ma, Ma' (mother, mother), with tears flowing freely. We had to drag him out. Learning under Baba was a double whammy—the whole tradition behind him, plus his own religious experience." The open-mindedness Khan showed toward other cultures is a quality that Shankar personally retained throughout his life and career. Ten years after meeting Khan and six years after beginning his music studies, Shankar's sitar training ended. Thereafter, he went to Mumbai, where he worked for the Indian People's Theatre Association, composing music for ballets until 1946. He went on to become music director of the New Delhi radio station All-India Radio, a position he held until 1956. During his time at AIR, Shankar composed pieces for orchestra that mixed sitar and other Indian instruments with classical Western instrumentation. Also during this period, he began performing and writing music with American-born violinist Yehudi Menuhin, with whom he would later record three albums: the Grammy Award–winning West Meets East (1967), West Meets East, Vol. 2 (1968) and Improvisations: West Meets East (1976). All the while, the name Ravi Shankar was becoming more and more recognized internationally. Mainstream SuccessIn 1954, Shankar gave a recital in the Soviet Union. In 1956, he debuted in the United States and Western Europe. Also helping his star rise was the score he wrote for famous Indian film director Satyajit Ray's The Apu Trilogy. The first of these films, Pather Panchali, won the Grand Prix — now known as the Golden Palm or Palme d'Or — at the Cannes Film Festival in 1955. The prize is awarded to the best film of the festival. READ NEXT PERSONALITIESBarron Trump(2006-) MUSICIANSMichael Jackson(1958-2009) CRIME FIGURESAileen Wuornos(1956-2002) Already an ambassador of Indian music to the Western world, Shankar embraced this role even more fully in the 1960s. That decade saw Shankar's performance at the Monterey Pop Festival, as well as his set at Woodstock in 1969. Additionally, in 1966, George Harrison began studying sitar with Shankar and even played the instrument on the Beatles' track "Norwegian Wood." Concert for BangladeshShankar's partnership with Harrison proved to be even more significant years later. In 1971, Bangladesh became a hotbed of armed conflict between Indian and Muslim Pakistani forces. Along with the issues of violence, the country was inundated with ferocious flooding. Seeing the famine and hardship faced by the country's civilians, Shankar and Harrison organized the Concert for Bangladesh. It took place at Madison Square Garden on August 1 and featured performers such as Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Shankar and Harrison. Proceeds from the show, which is largely considered to be the first major modern charity concert, went to the aid organization UNICEF to help Bangladeshi refugees. Additionally, the recording made for the benefit by the performing artists won the 1973 Grammy Award for album of the year. Later CareerFrom the 1970s to the early 21st century, Shankar's fame, recognition and achievement continued to grow steadily. In 1982, his score for Richard Attenborough's film Gandhi earned him an Oscar nomination. In 1987, Shankar experimented with adding electronic music to his traditional sound, sparking music's New Age movement. All the while, he continued to compose orchestral music blending Western and Indian instrumentation, including a collaboration with Philip Glass: the 1990 album Passages. Throughout his career, Shankar received criticism for not being a classical purist from some Indian traditionalists. In response, the musician once said, "I have experimented with non-Indian instruments, even electronic gadgets. But all my experiences were based on Indian ragas. When people discuss tradition, they don't know what they are talking about. Over centuries, classical music has undergone addition, beautification, and improvement—always sticking to its traditional basis. Today, the difference is that the changes are faster." Death and LegacyShankar won many awards and honors throughout his career, including 14 honorary degrees, three Grammy Awards (he received two posthumous Grammys as well) and a membership to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Shankar died on December 11, 2012, in San Diego, California, at the age of 92. The musician had reportedly suffered from upper respiratory and heart ailments throughout 2012, and had undergone surgery to replace a heart valve in the days leading up to his death. Shankar was survived by two daughters, who are also musicians, sitar player Anoushka Shankar and Grammy Award–winning singer-songwriter Norah Jones. Known fondly today as the "godfather of world music," Shankar is remembered for using his wealth of talent to infuse Indian culture into the world's forever-growing music scene, and is largely credited with building a large following for Eastern music in the West."The message I'm trying to get through is that our music is very sacred to us and is not meant for people who are alcoholic, or who are addicts, or who misbehave, because it is a music which has been handed down from our religious background for our listeners." The words are those of the famous Indian sitarist, Ravi Shankar, a man whose popularity in the United States has ridden the crest of the psychedelic movement. But Shankar, in an exclusive Beat interview, made it clear that he didn't want to appeal to drug users or high hippies. "If one hears this music without any intoxication, or any sort of drugs, one does get the feeling of being intoxicated. That's the beauty of our music. It builds up to that pitch. We don't believe in the extra, or the other stimulus taken, and that's what I'm trying my best to make the young people, without hurting them, of course, to understand." Shankar refused the label of anti-drug preacher or social reformer. "I have nothing to say. No, it's the people's business if they want to drink, or smoke or take drugs. All I request is that these people just give me a couple of hours of sobriety or sober mind. That's all I request of them. Whatever they do before or after is not my business." Popular now The Indian musician admitted that his popularity has boomed in the US in the past two years, although he had been making tours of the States for the past 12 years. "Many people, especially young people, have started listening to sitar since George Harrison, one of the Beatles, became my disciple. He is a beautiful person. His attitude toward our music is very sincere. He's very humble, and becoming better and better. His love for India and its philosophy and spiritual values is something outstanding. Sitar school Shankar described his music as having different stages in it resulting from many developments made on it over the centuries. "It has got the tremendously spiritual, the tranquil mood, then it drops into romantic, and, in the end, it is very playful and joyous." Since Beatle George became so interested in the many moods of the sitar, other groups have taken it up, and, says Shankar. "It is now the 'in' thing." Interest in the sitar has been increasing at such a great pace, Shankar decided to set up a sitarist school in Los Angeles. Indian music in general will be taught there, including a number of other Indian musical instruments and vocal training. "I'm going to be at the school for another two and a half months nearly teaching there," he said. "And even if I go, the school will function, as I'm trying to have a permanent staff." … we have a small favour to ask. Tens of millions have placed their trust in the Guardian’s high-impact journalism since we started publishing 200 years ago, turning to us in moments of crisis, uncertainty, solidarity and hope. More than 1.5 million readers, from 180 countries, have recently taken the step to support us financially – keeping us open to all, and fiercely independent. With no shareholders or billionaire owner, we can set our own agenda and provide trustworthy journalism that’s free from commercial and political influence, offering a counterweight to the spread of misinformation. When it’s never mattered more, we can investigate and challenge without fear or favour. Unlike many others, Guardian journalism is available for everyone to read, regardless of what they can afford to pay. We do this because we believe in information equality. Greater numbers of people can keep track of global events, understand their impact on people and communities, and become inspired to take meaningful action. We aim to offer readers a comprehensive, international perspective on critical events shaping our world – from the Black Lives Matter movement, to the new American administration, Brexit, and the world's slow emergence from a global pandemic. We are committed to upholding our reputation for urgent, powerful reporting on the climate emergency, and made the decision to reject advertising from fossil fuel companies, divest from the oil and gas indu One of India's first cultural ambassadors to the West, Pandit Ravi Shankar has done more than any other musician to stimulate western interest in Indian music. He was the bright star, the early maestro, who focused the attention with his music for the Apu Trilogy, his concerts, his experiments and improvisations with Yehudi Menuhin, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Andre Previn, Zubin Mehta and, of course, the Beatles. Last fortnight, 30 years after his first major tour abroad, he spoke with Salil Tripathi in New York. Excerpts:Q. How have your audiences changed in the last 30 years?A. It is very interesting to see how the audience has grown. Initially I played to small audiences, but by the late '50s I was at the Carnegie Hall, the Royal Festival Hall. In the beginning old people used to come - you know, those who liked Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Tagore. Then the jazz buffs came. They liked our improvisations. After the '63 Edinburgh Festival, things changed. I would hardly see one or two Indians in the audience before that. Then Marathis, Gujaratis, south Indians began coming. Then came the second phase: when George Harrison became my student. That was at the end of '66. That created such a big explosion. He liked the sound of the sitar and used it in that song - Norwegian Wood or whatever. Suddenly young people began coming. Overnight I became a superstar, guru of George Beatle Harrison. In the beginning it was a bit exciting, I won't deny that. Who doesn't like that sort of adulation? But within a short period of time I realised that I was walking on a sharp sword. I knew it was a very superficial thing. I suddenly became "Hi Ravy". CHECK THESE OUTMOREHow Pyaar Ka Punchnama led to slew of misogynist comedies. On Throwback ThursdayHow Pyaar Ka Punchnama led to slew of misogynist comedies. On Throwback Thursday RECOMMENDEDTV actress Deepika Singh poses beside tree uprooted by Cyclone Tauktae. Internet blasts her TV actress Deepika Singh poses beside tree uprooted by Cyclone Tauktae. Internet blasts her POPULARPet dog does yoga with hooman in adorable viral video. Internet loves it Pet dog does yoga with hooman in adorable viral video. Internet loves it RECOMMENDEDQ. You found no reverence?.A. And they were stoned! That drug thing was hurting me. I had learnt from my guru where he believed in no smoke, no drink, where we had to keep the strength of our character. I'm not a hypocrite: I do enjoy a drink once in a while, but I never mix the two. I don't drink and start playing - many people do that in India so unfortunately. This attitude, of treating music as jugglery, as sport, is absolutely wrong. Music is an art.But back in India there was this propaganda that I had gone overboard, began commercialising, jazzifying, Americanising! All this when I was doing the other way around. Telling them not to smoke, not to drink, sit properly. I used to walk away with my sitar if the atmosphere wasn't good. I cut my own audience. In five years they were all gone. But about 10 per cent remained, and they are the genuine lovers of Indian music. Today the audience is not curious. We have an understanding. Q. Did the propaganda that you mention matter at all?A. It didn't matter, but it hurt me. There is one valid complaint there - people thought I was spending too much time outside and not performing enough for them in India. And I agree that is true. But I had to be here, otherwise the whole thing was going astray. There was no-body else. The other musicians took full advantage. They performed no matter what the atmosphere was. There was ganja all around, charas all around, but they didn't care. But I was very conscious, because I took responsibility. I was trying to put our music in the correct perspective. But the propaganda was started by people who were envious of me - unfortunately even some musicians did it. Q. What do you feel when people say that you like experimenting with your creativity, but they prefer Vilayat Khan for his purity?A. Again they are making the same mistake. These people are so ignorant! They are comparing a sword with a dagger, or a rifle with a pistol. They are confusing my two identities. I play the sitar. Let all the critics listen to me when I perform and tell me - am I playing jazz on sitar? Am I playing symphony on sitar? I'm playing what I have learnt from my Baba. Like every creative artist, like Vilayat Khan himself, being creative, I have done a lot of new things. But those new things are not exported from outside. I don't give a guitar effect on sitar. Whatever I do is always based on tradition. But foolishly these people who are after me say that because I have done improvisations with Yehudi Menuhin or done some orchestral compositions, with concerto, they compare that, and then say I've sacrificed my music, I'm not pure anymore. Secondly, I have never tried, even in my experimentations with electronic music, to change my approach. My approach is always Indian. I've never attempted to meet the western medium. All I have done is within ragas and talas. But I have tried to use the texture, the colour, the huge range of western music - their sound, their treble, their base, their dynamics. Vilayat Khan is a friend of mine whom I admire so much and personally he too admires me. Then what is this: who is greater - Vilayat Khan or Ravi Shankar? Would you ever see such articles in the West, Menuhin or Heifetz? They are not so foolish. Our people are the only ones who do that. They consider music to be something like tennis. It is like McEnroe and Bjorn Borg. Number one and number two. This attitude, of treating music as jugglery, as sport, is absolutely wrong. Music is an art. The sitar (English: /ˈsɪtɑːr/ or /sɪˈtɑːr/; IAST: sitāra) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India and flourished in the 16th and 17th centuries and arrived at its present form in 18th-century India. Used widely throughout the Indian subcontinent, the sitar became popularly known in the wider world through the works of Ravi Shankar, beginning in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[1] In the 1960s, a short-lived trend arose for the use of the sitar in Western popular music, with the instrument appearing on tracks by bands such as the Beatles, the Doors, the Rolling Stones and others. Contents1Etymology2History2.1Foreign origins2.2Indian origins3Physical description4Construction styles5Tuning of sitar6Playing7World music influence8Sitar gharanas9See also10References11External linksEtymologyThe word sitar originates from the Persian si [three] + tar [strings].[2] HistoryThe history of the sitar is disputed, with Western scholars favouring West Asian origins and Indian scholars favouring local Indian origins. Foreign origins19th century sitar with 4 strings19th century sitar with 4 strings.19th century sitar with 6 strings19th century sitar. This instrument does not have sympathetic strings.The predominant western scholarly opinion of the sitar's origin is that, the sitar evolved from one or more instruments of the tanbūr family, long necked lutes which they argue were introduced and popularised during the period of Muslim rule.[3] Those favoring this view say that the evidence of indigenous long necked lutes in India is particularly lacking.[4] According to this view, when Muslim rule began in Northern India in 1192, the conquerors brought with them tanbur-family instruments, and other instruments in their "multi-national" army. In this early period, the Muslim instrument was linked to the tradition of Sufi ecstatic dance, "sufiānā rang".[3] It was also theorized in Muslim tradition, that the sitar was invented, or rather developed by Amir Khusrow (c. 1253-1325), a famous Sufi inventor, poet and pioneer of Khyal, Tarana and Qawwali, during the thirteenth century.[3][5][6] [7] However, the tradition of Amir Khusrow may be considered discredited by some scholars.[8] Whatever instruments he might have played, no record exists from this period using the name "sitar".[6] In the early Mughal Empire (1526-1707), tanbur style instruments continued to be used in court. They were beginning to change; in images from the period, an instrument resembling an Uzbek dutar or a tambūrā is being played on the shoulder, with the "deep bridge of the modern sitar and the tambūrā". Looking at the musicians (the way they played their instruments in surviving images, their identities that were recorded) led Alastair Dick to conclude that the instrument was being adopted for Hindu music by Hindu musicians. The instrument was used for "Persian and Hindu melodies".[3] According to Alastair Dick, the "modern view that...invading Muslims simply changed into Persian the name of an existing Hindu instrument...has no historical or musical foundation".[3] In the late Mughal Empire (1707-1858), the instrument began to take on its modern shape. The neck got wider. The bowl, which had been made of glued lathes of wood was now made of gourd, with metal frets and a bone nut on the neck.[3] By about 1725, the name sitar was used in the Hammir-raso by Jodhraj, a Rajasthan author. The instrument had 5 strings by this time. The beginnings of the modern 7-string tuning were present too.[3] While current musicological studies have indicated an origin linked to tambur-family instruments, that doesn't mean that other instruments such as the veena had no effect on the development of the sitar. The vina may have been a source for adding sympathetic strings to the sitar. This allowed the sitar to expand into different musical traditions, the "repertoire and the conventions...of the long established system of rāg".[9] The gourd mounted in the top of the instrument came from the stick zither tradition, in which the Veena is prominent. Indian originsPredominant Indian scholarship favours evolution of Sitar from Tritantri veena.[10] In the south of India, a long necked lute instrument appeared in the 10th century has been the basis of this view which is also favoured in Indian sitarist, Ravi Shankar.[4] Physical description Anatomy of a sitarA sitar can have 18, 19, 20, or 21 strings. Six or seven of these are played strings which run over curved, raised frets, and the remainder are sympathetic strings (tarb, also known as taarif or tarafdaar) which run underneath the frets and resonate in sympathy with the played strings. These strings are generally used to set the mood of a raga at the very beginning of a presentation. The frets, which are known as pardā or thaat,[11] are movable, allowing fine-tuning. The played strings run to tuning pegs on or near the head of the instrument, while the sympathetic strings, which are a variety of different lengths, pass through small holes in the fretboard to engage with the smaller tuning pegs that run down the instrument's neck. The instrument has two bridges: the large bridge (badaa goraa) for the playing and drone strings and the small bridge (chota goraa) for the sympathetic strings. Its timbre results from the way the strings interact with the wide, sloping bridge. As a string reverberates its length changes slightly as its edge touches the bridge, promoting the creation of overtones and giving the sound its distinctive tone. The maintenance of this specific tone by shaping the bridge is called jawari. Many musicians rely on instrument makers to adjust this. Materials used in construction include teak wood or tun wood (Cedrela toona), which is a variation of mahogany, for the neck and faceplate (tabli), and calabash gourds for the resonating chambers. The instrument's bridges are made of deer horn, ebony, or very occasionally from camel bone. Synthetic material is now common as well. Construction stylesThere are two popular modern styles of sitar: the fully decorated "instrumental style" (sometimes called the "Ravi Shankar style") and the "gayaki" style (sometimes called the ""Vilayat Khan"" style). Close-up of the pen work on a "Ravi Shankar style" sitarThe instrumental style sitar is most often made of seasoned toon wood, but sometimes made of Burma teak. It is often fitted with a second resonator, a small tumba (pumpkin or pumpkin-like wood replica) on the neck. This style is usually fully decorated, with floral or grape carvings and celluloid inlays with colored (often brown or red) and black floral or arabesque patterns. It typically has thirteen sympathetic strings. It is said that the best Burma teak sitars are made from teak that has been seasoned for generations. Therefore, instrument builders look for old Burma teak that was used in old colonial-style villas as whole trunk columns for their special sitar constructions. The sources of very old seasoned wood are a highly guarded trade secret and sometimes a mystery. Preferences of taraf string & peg positioning and their total numberThere are various additional sub-styles and cross mixes of styles in sitars, according to customer preferences. Most importantly, there are some differences in preferences for the positioning of sympathetic (taraf) string pegs (see photo). Amongst all sitar styles, there are student styles, beginner models, semi-pro styles, pro-models, master models, and so on. Prices are often determined by the manufacturer's name and not by looks alone or materials used. Some sitars by certain manufacturers fetch very high collectible prices. Most notable are older Rikhi Ram (Delhi) and older Hiren Roy (Kolkata) sitars depending upon which master built the instrument. Tuning of sitar Sample sitar musicMENU0:00A 1 min 10 second sample of Sitar sound, playing Yaman RagaProblems playing this file? See media help.Tuning depends on the sitarist's school or style, tradition and each artist's personal preference. The main playing string is almost invariably tuned a perfect fourth above the tonic, the second string being tuned to the tonic. The tonic in the Indian solfège system is referred to as ṣaḍja, ṣaḍaj, or the shortened form sa, or khaṛaj, a dialectal variant of ṣaḍaj, not as vād, and the perfect fifth to which one or more of the drones strings are tuned is referred to as pañcam, not samvād. (The last three in the upper octave). The player should re-tune for each raga. Strings are tuned by tuning pegs, and the main playing strings can be fine-tuned by sliding a bead threaded on each string just below the bridge. A black ebony wood JawariIn one or more of the more common tunings (used by Ravi Shankar, among others, called "Kharaj Pancham" sitar) the playable strings are strung in this fashion: Chikari strings: Sa (high), Sa (middle), and Pa.Kharaj (bass) strings: Sa (low) and Pa (low).Jod and baaj strings, Sa and Ma.There is a lot of stylistic variance within these tunings and like most Indian stringed instruments, there is no default tuning. Mostly, tunings vary by schools of teaching (gharana) and the piece that is meant to be played. PlayingThe instrument is balanced between the player's left foot and right knee. The hands move freely without having to carry any of the instrument's weight.[citation needed] The player plucks the string using a metallic pick or plectrum called a mizraab. The thumb stays anchored on the top of the fretboard just above the main gourd. Generally, only the index and middle fingers are used for fingering although a few players occasionally use the third. A specialized technique called "meend" involves pulling the main melody string down over the bottom portion of the sitar's curved frets, with which the sitarist can achieve a seven semitone range of microtonal notes (however, because of the sitar's movable frets, sometimes a fret may be set to a microtone already, and no bending would be required). This was developed by Vilayat Khan into a technique that imitated the melisma of the vocal style, a technique known as "gayaki ang" [12] Adept players bring in charisma through the use of special techniques like Kan, Krintan, Murki, Zamzama etc. They also use special Mizrab Bol-s, as in Misrabani.[13] World music influence Ravi Shankar in 1988In the late 1950s and early 1960s Ravi Shankar, along with his tabla player, Alla Rakha, began a further introduction of Indian classical music to Western culture. The sitar saw use in Western popular music when, guided by David Crosby's championing of Shankar,[14] George Harrison played it on the Beatles' songs "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "Love You To" and "Within You Without You", recorded between 1965 and 1967. The Beatles' association with the instrument helped popularise Indian classical music among Western youth,[15][16] particularly once Harrison began receiving tutelage from Shankar and the latter's protégé Shambhu Das in 1966.[17] That same year, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones used a sitar on "Paint It Black"[18] while another English guitarist, Dave Mason, played it on Traffic's 1967 hits "Paper Sun" and "Hole in My Shoe".[19] These and other examples marked a trend of featuring the instrument in pop songs which Shankar later described as "the great sitar explosion".[20][21] Speaking to KRLA Beat in July 1967, he said: "Many people, especially young people, have started listening to sitar since George Harrison, one of the Beatles, became my disciple ... It is now the 'in' thing."[22] A Star's electric sitarLed Zeppelin's Jimmy Page talked about his love of Indian music, saying: "I went to India after I came back from a tour with the Yardbirds in the late sixties just so I could hear the music firsthand. Let's put it this way: I had a sitar before George Harrison got his. I wouldn't say I played it as well as he did, though ..."[23] Robbie Krieger's guitar part on the Doors' 1967 track "The End" was heavily influenced by Indian ragas and features melodic and rhythmic qualities that suggest a sitar or veena.[24] Many pop performances actually involve the electric sitar,[25] which is a solid body, guitar-like instrument and quite different from the traditional acoustic Indian instrument. The Kinks' 1965 single "See My Friends" featured a "low-tuned drone guitar" that was widely mistaken to be a sitar.[1] Crosby's band, the Byrds, had similarly incorporated elements of Indian music,[14] using "only Western instrumentation", on their songs "Eight Miles High" and "Why" in 1965.[26] Psychedelic music bands often used new recording techniques and effects and drew on non-Western sources such as the ragas and drones of Indian music. The Electric Prunes appeared in early ads for the Vox Wah wah pedal, which touted the effect's ability to make an electric guitar sound like a sitar.[27] Sitar gharanasImdadkhani gharanaSenia GharanaIndore Gharana (Beenkar Gharana)Maihar gharanaJaipur GharanaBishnupur GharanaLucknow-Shahjahaanpur GharanaDharwad Gharana
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