Word of the Day
Ravi (RAH-vee)
Common clue: Sitarist Shankar
Bharat Ratna Ravi Shankar (born April 7, 1920) is an Indian (Bengali) musician best known for being a virtuoso at the sitar. A disciple of Baba Allauddin Khan (founder of the Maihar Gharana of Hindustani classical music), Pandit Ravi Shankar is arguably the best-known Indian musician.
Oslo
Concert Hall, 1979 (Photo used with permission)
He was generally unknown outside of India until the musician George Harrison, a member of The Beatles, began experimenting with the sitar in 1965. The two eventually met due to this common interest and became close friends, and that in turn gave Shankar worldwide fame as Harrison's mentor.
This development greatly expanded his career, as he was invited to play in venues that were unusual for a classical musician like himself such as the 1967 Monterey Music Festival; this took place in Monterey, California, about 100 miles south of San Francisco.
Since then, he has maintained a steady and acclaimed career as a musician and recording artist. The classical composer Philip Glass acknowledges Shankar as a major influence. The two have collaborated, producing a recording of joint compositions called Passages.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html). It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravi_Shankar
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