Ravi Shankar

The godfather of world music, legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar introduced the sounds of India to the West and helped revolutionise The Beatles. Born in the ancient holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the River Ganges, Shankar studied in Paris before becoming an apprentice under the strict regime of Indian musician Allauddin Khan and starting playing concerts in 1939. He composed soundtracks to Bollywood films, founded the National Orchestra and taught Indian music to jazz legend John Coltrane, before meeting George Harrison and Paul McCartney in 1966. It led to Harrison playing the sitar on The Beatles classic Norwegian Wood and the band famously visiting India in 1968; while Shankar went on to perform at the Woodstock Festival and later work with Harrison, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston and a host of Indian musicians on his classic East-meets-West fusion record Shankar Family & Friends (1974). In 1971 he organised the first major musical charity event, The Concert For Bangladesh, which featured performances by Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Leon Russell at Madison Square Garden and raised over $1.2 million thanks to the Phil Spector-produced live album of the night. Regarded as the master of Indian music, he won his third Grammy Award for the album Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000 and continued performing with his daughters Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar until his death in 2012 from heart and lung problems.

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