Ravi Shankar
International, world-renowned satirist. (1920-2012)
Early Life
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Ravi was born in Varanasi (also known as Benares), India on
April 7, 1920
 To put it into perspective… in that same year the traffic lights,
Band-Aid brand, and the lie detector were all invented!
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Grew-up in a traditional Bengali Brahmin community
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Learned many traditional Indian instruments at a young age
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His mother died when he was 10 and shortly
moved to Paris, France with his father and
brother
•
As a result of moving, Ravi…
 Received a Westernized education
 Was exposed to cultural and musical experiences
 Learned more than one language
Indian photograph circa
1920.
Early Life
•
Ravi graduated high school in 1938 and shortly after moved
back to India
•
Once in India, he decided to begin his formal musical
training
•
Became an apprentice under Ustad Allauddin Khan
 At that time, Ustan Allauddin Khan was one of the most
renowned multi-instrumentalist composers in Indian classical
music.
•
While apprenticing Ravi Shankar devoted his time to
mastering the sitar
 The sitar is a Traditional Indian instrument that has been
around for hundreds of years.
 The sitar is an instrument that typically played sitting in the
musicians lay by plucking either six of sever strings. However,
some sitar’s can have up to 20 strings!
Rise to Fame
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Once his formal education had come to an end Ravi wanted
to create a big name for himself in traditional Indian music
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He began preforming for multiple radios stations however
it did not turn out as productively as he had hoped
•
Next, he decided to try composing his very first music for
Indian films and that was a huge success!
 “Dharti ke Lal” and “Neecha Nagar”
•
After success in the film industry he was lured back into
Western life and began traveling back-and-forth between
India and Europe
•
Subsequently, in the 1950’s, he produced one of his most
famous scores in film The Apu Trilogy and was featured at
the Cannes Film Festival
 This caused him to become widely recognized and increased his
popularity in the India, the United States, and Western Europe!
The 1960’s: Shankar in HighDemand!
•
Ravi’s music career was steadily increasing in India,
however his popularity was even more amplified in
Western cultures during the1960’s
 This became known as his most important and famous
decade!
•
In 1967 Ravi the Monterey Pop Festival and then, by
popular demand, he also featured at Woodstock in
1969
•
During this decade he also collaborated with and
educating George Harrison on how to play the sitar
Ravi Shankar and George
Harrison.
 This friendship eventually lead to a once-in-a-lifetime
experience of being able to preform with the Beatles
 He was even recorded and featured on their “Norwegian
Wood” track!
Ravi performing at 1969
Woodstock event.
Criticized?!
•
During the 1970’s Ravi’s popularity continued to rise the
more he preformed and composed
•
All of his hard-work paid off when in 1982 he received his
first of many an Oscar nomination for his original composure
in the film “Gandhi”
•
Just when you thought he had tried it all, Ravi tried
something new… exploring and adding electronic
modifications to some of his music!
 America = popular!
 India = criticized!
•
Indian traditionalists complained that this music was
disgraceful to traditional Indian ragas and that it was not
classical, purist Indian music.
•
Shankar’s said that although he had begun exploring new
techniques, his passion was always for traditional Indian
ragas
“In India, I have
been called a
'destroyer.' But that
is only because they
mixed my identity as
a performer and as a
composer. As a
composer I have
tried everything,
even electronic
music and avantgarde. But as a
performer I am,
believe me, getting
more classical and
more orthodox,
jealously protecting
the heritage that I
have learned.”
-Ravi Shankar on his use of
electronic modifications
His Last Days…
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By this point in time, Ravi was in his 70’s and 80’s so
his performances became somewhat scarce
 Don’t let that statement fool you though… while he rarely
had public performances anymore, his family said he
stopped playing his stair at home!
•
In California, late in December of 2012, Shankar
peacefully passed away
•
He left behind a noteworthy legacy of remarkable
award-winning traditional Indian music and blended
“East-meets-West” modern Western-Indian songs
•
Did You Know! He has two daughters: Anoushka
Shankar, a satirist reliving her fathers legacy in
India, and Norah Jones, a Grammy Award-winning
singer in America!
Major Accomplishments, Awards,
and Nominations!
•
Grammy Awards:




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Received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Grammys (2012)
Full Circle (2001)
Ravi Shankar’s Daughters Accepting His
The Concert for Bangladesh (1971) with George Harrison
“Lifetime Achievement Award” at the
West Meets East (1966)
Grammys (2012)
Governmental Honors:
 A knighthood bestowed on him by Elizabeth II for his
service to music (2001)
 Kalidas Samman honor from Madhya Pradesh for (1987)
•
Nominations:
 Multiple Grammy nominations
 One Academy Award nomination
“I try to give to my music the spiritual quality, very deep in
the soul, which does something even if you are not realizing it
or analyzing it - that's the duty of the music.” –Ravi Shankar
Resources (APA)
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Courtney, D. (2012, February 4). Biography of Ravi Shankar. Retrieved July
2, 2004, from http://chandrakantha.com/biodata/ravi_shankar.html.
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Ravi Shankar. (2014). The Biography.com website. Retrieved Jul 02, 2014,
from http://www.biography.com/people/ravi-shankar-9480456.
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Britannica. (2014). Ravi Shankar. Retrieved August 5, 2014, from
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/538559/Ravi-Shankar
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IndiaPost. (2013, February 13). Daughter’s Accept Dad’s Award. Retrieved
August 5, 2014, from http://www.indiapost.com/daughters-accept-dadsgrammy/