The famous sitarist Pandit Ravi Shankar was born today on 7 April in a Bengali family in Varanasi. One thing that is known about Pandit Ravi Shankar, who is called the Godfather of world music, is that he did not play sitar earlier, he was fond of dancing.
Later, at the age of about 18, the young Ravi Shankar’s mind connected with the wire of the sitar and then he became the magician of the world of sitar.
Pandit Ravi Shankar was born in the year 1920 and childhood was spent around the Ghats of Banaras. His full name was called Ravindra Shankar Chaudhary, which he later changed to Ravi Shankar.
The child Ravi Shankar found an atmosphere of music at home. His brother Pandit Uday Shankar was a well-known dancer. Seeing the atmosphere of the dance, Ravi Shankar joined the brother’s dance group and grew up with the troupe in almost all the world including European countries.
During this time, he got attention on sitar playing and this was the thing that immediately connected Ravi Shankar. At that time, he was about 18 years old.
Pandit Ravi Shankar is known for making Indian music popular in Western countries. In 1966 he met George Harrison of the Beatles. Rock and Jazz music had its own passion among the youth at that time.
Ravi Shankar caught his attention among the youth. He composed ‘Fusion’ music with renowned foreign musicians such as George Harrison, guitarist Jimmy Hendrix and violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
Last performance on stage –
Pandit Ravi Shankar loved music so much that he could not stop himself from coming on stage despite his poor health.
On 4 November 2012, he performed for the last time with her daughter Anushka in California. He was so ill before the presentation that he had to wear an oxygen mask.
This program had been postponed 3 times earlier due to his poor health. Apart from all the awards in India and abroad, he has also received Grammy Awards thrice.
He has also been awarded the highest civilian award Bharat Ratna in India. He was also a nominated member of the Rajya Sabha from 1986 to 1992. He died on 12 December 2012 in a hospital in San Diego, USA.