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RAVI SHANKAR
As a performer, composer, teacher and writer, Ravi Shankar is renowned throughout the world for his pioneering work in
bringing Indian music to the West. He has been a cultural influence in the West for more than four decades as India’s
most recognized and esteemed musical ambassador.
The youngest son of a Bengali family, he was born in 1920 in Varansi (Benares), the holiest of Indian cities. At the age
of ten he accompanied his elder brother, Uday Shankar, with his company of dancers and musicians to Paris where he
attended school. He spent several years in the West absorbing different kinds of music but returned to India in 1938
where he began his career in his native India. He combined his concert performances with his work for All India Radio
(1949-56) where he established the National Chamber Orchestra. As word of his virtuosity spread throughout India, then
Europe, Asia and the United States, Shankar embarked on one of the most extraordinary careers in the history of
contemporary music.
Ravi Shankar is a prolific composer and in addition to his numerous ragas and talas, he has written for musicians from
the East and West including Menuhin, Jean-Pierre Rampal and Japanese artists. The tune for “Sare Jahan Se Achcha”,
the most famous song in India after the National Anthem, was composed by Ravi Shankar in 1945. He has also composed
a new Raga, “Swarna” (Golden) and new Tala, “Jayanti” (celebration) with 50 matras (beats) in celebration of India’s
fifty years of Independence. Among his works are three Concertos for Sitar and Orchestra, the first commissioned by the
London Symphony Orchestra and premiered under André Previn. In 1980 he was commissioned by the New York
Philharmonic, under the direction of Zubin Mehta, to compose “Raga-Mala” (A garland of Ragas), which was his second
Sitar Concerto. The third Concerto was commissioned by the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra and premiered by his
daughter, Anoushka Shankar, at Carnegie Hall in 2009. He has composed extensively for ballets and films including
Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy, which raised film music to a new standard of excellence, and Gandhi, the Academy Award
winning classic by Sir Richard Attenborough which won him nominations for both an Oscar and a Grammy Award. His
latest composition – Symphony – was premiered at the Royal Festival Hall by the London Philharmonic Orchestra in
2010.
Ravi Shankar is the recipient of many awards and honours including the Presidential Padma Vibhushan Award (1980),
the Award of Deshikottam, given by Vishawa Bharati and presented in December 1982 by the then Prime Minister, the
late Mrs Indira Gandhi, the Hollister Award (1997) and in February of 2000 he received the Legion d'Honneur. He is an
honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and recipient of 17 doctorates. In 1986 he became a
member of the Rajya Sabha, India’s Upper House of Parliament. He is a Fellow of the Sangeet Natak Academy and
Founder President of The Research Institute for Music and the Performing Arts. His most recent honours include the
‘Praemium Imperiale Arts Award’ from Japan, ‘The Polar Music Prize’ often referred to as the Nobel prize for Music
given by the King of Sweden, the Bharat Ratna “The Jewel of India”, the highest civilian award bestowed upon him by
the President of India and most recently the Commandeur de la legion d’Honneur, the highest French civilian award. In
2001 he was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE).
He continues to tour each season all over the world dividing his time between India and the USA with regular visits to
Europe and the Far East. He is author of two books – “My Music, My Life” (in English) and “Rag Anurag” (in Bengali).
His autobiography “Raga Mala” has been published in a limited edition by Genesis Publications, and will be issued in
paperback later this year by Element Books. He has made many recordings which have won numerous awards and
accolades over the years, including two Grammy Awards. To honour him for his 75th birthday EMI Angel and Dark
Horse Records released a four CD boxed set, “RAVI-In Celebration”. More recently his CD, “Chants of India”,
produced by George Harrison, using ancient verses along with a few of his own original compositions touches the
spiritual core of the listener. The latest release (2001) – Ravi Shankar: Live from Carnegie Hall –earned him his third
Grammy Award.
Perhaps no other greater tribute can be paid to this remarkable musician than the words of his colleague, the late Yehudi
Menuhin, “Ravi Shankar has brought me a precious gift and through him I have added a new dimension to my
experience of music. To me, his genius and his humanity can only be compared to that of Mozart’s”
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