About Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar - world renowned Sitar musician

Ravi Shankar is an award winning master of the sitar, composer, teacher and writer who has almost single-handedly spread the beauty of Indian music around the world.

Ravi Shankar Tribute

His musical studies started at the age of 10 when he accompanied his elder brother Uday Shankar and Uday’s company of musicians and dancers to Paris where the younger Shankar attended school. During this time in the West, Mr. Shankar’s musical studies exposed him to a variety of musical styles that would later influence his music and his compositions.

His career began when he returned to India in 1938 where he combined concert performances with his work for All India Radio and his establishment of the National Chamber Orchestra. He was one of the brightest stars in India before coming to world-wide attention. His genius with the sitar was introduced to American audiences with his extraordinary sitar performances at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival and the 1969 Woodstock Music Festival. In 1970, Andre Previn commissioned his “Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra” that was premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra. He collaborated with George Harrison and others in 1971 on The Concert for Bangladesh. In 1980, a second sitar concerto “Raga-Mala” (A Garland of Ragas) was commissioned and performed under the direction of Zubin Mehta by the New York Philharmonic.

Other accomplishments include Academy Award and Grammy nominations for the musical score for the movie “Ghandi,” violin-sitar compositions for violinist Yehudi Menuhin and himself, for flute virtuoso Hean-Pierre Ramal and other internationally renowned musicians. His multi-artist work “Orion” opened the 2004 Cultural Olympiad in Greece and his ballet “Ghanashyam” which he wrote, composed and choreographed.

At the age of 88, Mr. Shankar is still entertaining audiences with his abilities on the sitar, performing live with his daughter, Anoushka Shakar. If the opportunity to see this sitar virtuoso perform, consider it a gift and be prepared to have an incredibly enjoyable evening of music.