Thursday, December 13, 2012

THE LOSS OF A SITAR PLAYING LEGEND

He learned to play the sitar from court Musician of the city of Maihar Maharaja's Palace named Allauddin Khan.  It was when he studied the sitar under Allauddin Khan that he gave up all his worldly possessions (Including all of his Western style clothes in favor of traditional Indian clothes) to learn to play music seriously.  Ravi Shaknar tought the Beatles bass guitar player George Harrison to play the sitar.  And because of that, Ravi Shaknar brought traditional Indian music to psychedelic hippie counter culture.  Though he didn't enjoy being treated as a fad, he enjoyed bringing traditional Indian sitar music to Western countries.  On December 6, 2012, Ravi was suffering from upper-respiratory and heart issues that made it difficult to breath.  It was believed that he was saved from hearth valve transplant surgury on the same day he was admitted to the hospital on December 6, 2012.  Sadly, Ravi Shaknar died in Scripps Memorial Hospital in  La Jolla, San Diego, California on December 11, 2012 at age 92.  The death of Ravi Shaknar is a huge blow to the music world and he will be missed.

Beatles bass guitar player George Harrison and Ravi Shankar hanging out with each other on Aug. 3, 1967
 Ravi Shaknar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar (Who is both his backup band member playing sidekick and an accomplished solo performer too).

His daughter Anoushka Shankar, Ravi Shaknar and his daughter Geethali Shankar aka Norah Jones

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