Ravi Shankar (musician)

See also: Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar is a musician Sitar ist and Indian type-setter born the April 7th 1920 with Vârânasî (India).

Dr. Shyama Shankar, wire of Barapa Shankar, rich landowner, inherited the grounds of his father, in the east of the Bengal. He had followed brilliant studies of lawyer, and found Minister (diwan) for the Maharajah of Jhalawar. His wife, Hemangini, were confined of a fifth and the last wire on April 7th, 1920, which they called Robendra, called Robu initially, then later Ravi.

Robu Shankar was thus born in the town of Vârânasî (Bénarès), a high place of pilgrimage for the Hindus. Shyama, his/her father, belonged to the sacerdotal Caste Brahmane the S, highest in the Indian hierarchy, but did not exert any religious function. Shyama Shankar very early left to exert with London as a lawyer, then with Geneva, the Société of the Nations. Then it went to teach with the Université Columbia with New York.

He died when Robu was 15 years old. But Uday, the older brother, directed a troop of artists then, and engaged small Robu as dancer. He wanted to be an actor, but after all, it was a good start of career which to dance in a troop which took it along of Bénarès to Bombay, then with Venice, Paris and London. The family settled even some time in Paris in 1930.

Uday then wanted for its troop one of the best Indian musicians and made come illustrates it Ustad Allaudin Khan. Robu was very impressed by its talent, him which had been tested already for a few years with the Vînâ, with the Esraj and the Sitar, in addition to the dance and the song.

To died of her husband, Hemangini Shankar entrusted Robu to the guru, who took it under his wing like a son. But only after this last had decided all to leave for its teaching. It is when his/her brother decided to stop the troop and to return in India that Robu made the great decision. There shaved the head, threaded very simple clothing, joined Ustad Allaudin Khan, and remained seven years near him in the tradition of the Guru Kul, i.e. an initiation under very hard conditions sometimes; especially for a small dandy accustomed to the luxury hotels. He learned the Sitar, the Surbahar, the style and the technique of the Vînâ, the Rabâb and the Sursingar. Robu Shankar was very gifted, and after its studies it was quickly pointed out by great Indian musical personalities.

It is only in 1956 (at the 36 years age) that it occurred in America for the first time, and that it began under the name of Ravi Shankar its " mission" of popularization of the Indian Music near the Occident. However, at the time of the beginning in the concert given in 2000 to Carnegie Hall of New York and distributed under the title " Full Circle" , he affirms to have played on this same scene in 1938, as a dancer and a musician.

Its private individual of the Sitar, with all his effects of resonance sympathetic nerve, very quickly attracted the musicians rock'n'roll of the Années 1960, in full search of originality, exotic and psychedelic mysterious effects. In 1966, George Harrison of the Beatles became its pupil and played of the Sitar on Norvegian Wood , then other titles thereafter. Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones also used the Sitar on Paint It, Black . Colin Walcott (which will found the group Oregon) was the first Western musician to integrate the Sitar and the Tablâ S in most of its compositions, after having been roadie on a round of Ravi Shankar.

In 1967, Ravi Shankar founds its Kinnara school with Los Angeles. The same year, he plays Monterey Pop Festival, in 1969 with Woodstock, and in 1971 with the concert for the Bangladesh (organized per G. Harrison).

During this period, the meetings multiply and give place to unexpected collaborations, as with the traditional violonist Yehudi Menuhin or the flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal on the album West meets East , or with John Coltrane, whose admiration pushed it with prénommer his/her son Ravi. During the years 1970 and 1980, its timetable is shared between teaching, the scene and the recordings.

It gave memorable concerts in all the big cities of the world. He played in I968 with the Festival of Avignon when a troop d'" intellectuals contestataires" is assembled on the scene to shout of the slogans fist raised and Charmed continued to play as so of nothing was not, the eyes lost in vagueness, sitting as a tailor in the middle of people upright who gesticulaient… He composed of the film musics for Satyajit Ray and that of Gandhi of Richard Attenborough.

To note some albums during this period: Concert for sitar with Andre Previn, in 1971, Shankar Family in 1974, or its collaboration with Japanese musicians ( East greets East ), or its duets with Ali Akbar Khan with the Sarod, the son of his guru.

In 1987, it signs at Private Music, the label of Peter Baumann (of the group Tangerine Dream), and records Tana Mana , with for the first time of the synthetizers, and of many guests of all horizons (the Ravi Shankar Project ), of which again George Harrison. An album follows very quickly during its round to the U.S.S.R.: Inside the Kremlin . Then Passages , in collaboration with Philip Glass.

In 1989, Ravi Shankar assembled the scenic project " Ghanashayam - has broken branch" , which mixed music, theater and dance of the Eastern and Western traditions. A spectacle presented in England by City off Birmingham Touring Operated.

During its long career, its principal guides with the Tablâ S were: Chatur Lal, Went Rakha and KUMAR Bose.

In the Years 1980, his/her son, Shubbo Shankar, often comes to accompanied.

It returned in the topicality in 1997 while leaving the album Chants off India (produced by Harrison), made up only of hymns, for the majority vedic, or of the compositions remaining completely in this spirit.

All that left him since is a series of republications or compilations, except the setting in front of his/her daughter and raises: Anoushka Shankar, which left several albums. She always accompanies it from now on in round. His/her other daughter, Norah Jones, preferred the jazz and the pop one and became a star in this field. Its nephew, Ananda Shankar (1942-1999), wire of Uday Shankar, explored the interbreeding of pop electro with the Indian music; he also played of the Sitar in a more Western way but very involving.

Little by little détrôné by the young generation of virtuosos (like the percussionnists type-setters Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu, for example), he remains the Indian musician most famous in the world, and the first ambassador of the Indian Musique.

He is commander of the Arts and the Letters and holder of the Bharat Ratna.

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