“I have nothing to say. This is a huge loss to the Classical Music fraternity. His contribution to Indian Classical Music is immense. He placed Classical Music on the world map. I think, the Grammy award, the Bharat Ratna and the other awards he won have been honoured after Pandit ji accepted them. With two of the pillars of the Sitar gone, the other being Ustad Vilayat Khan sahab, the instrument has certainly fallen silent. However, the flame of legacy, which these doyens have left behind, shall continue to burn till eternity. Much like the Tagores and the Vivekanandas of the world.”
- Sourav Chunder, Student and talented Sitar player
“I started listening to Pandit Ravi Shankar from the year 2002. I was also crazy about the fact that Norah Jones, daughter of Panditji got the grammy nomination. As a 12 year old boy, I was after my mom to buy me a cassette of Raviji. As soon as I got home I started listening to it and rest changed my life. “It was love at the first listen”. Due to Panditji I started listening to the Beatles and in the due course of time became a huge fan of Mr. John Lennon & Mr. George Harrison. Concert for Bangladesh which was organized by Mr. Harrison & Panditji taught me bout world problems & social activism. Even though I’m a Metalhead now but at the end of the day Pandit Ravi Shankar’s magic soothes me after a hard and tiring day.”
- Sagnik Karmakar, Freelance Photgrapher and music enthusiast
“Indian Classical Music has lost its chief ambassador & India its Bharat Ratna. May God bless his soul.”
- A.R. Rahman, Oscar winning music composer
“Sad Day; spiritual, cultural & music legend, Ravi Shankar dead at 92. RIP.”
- Slash, legendary guitarist(ex-Guns n Roses, Velvet Revolver)
Messages like these flooded the cyber space from the morning of 12th of December, 2012. From celebrities to normal 9-5 office goers, everyone had the same thing to say.
It was around 8 am in the morning, I was sitting in front of my laptop just like any other day, surfing Facebook, having my breakfast, ignoring the stupid 12.12.12 status updates and pictures and checking my emails. Suddenly one status update caught my eye, it said – “R.I.P. Pt. Ravi Shankar”. I was taken aback for a moment and wasted no time to check out the story on some news channel. And there it was written in front of me –
“Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, one of India’s best known contemporary musicians, died after a long illness in a San Diego hospital at the age of 92.”
The man who was the first major artist to bridge the musical gap between the West and the East is no more. So in the end, 12.12.12 did actually turn out to be something memorable, for all the wrong reasons.
Born on 7th of April, 1920 as Robindro Shankor Chowdhury in the historic city of Varanasi, he was the younger brother of famous dancer Uday Shankar. By the age of 13, he could play multiple instruments and was a full-time member of his brother’s troupe. It was Sarod player Allauddin Khan who took Ravi Shankar to Maihar, the centre of Indian classical music. And that is how the legacy started.
A career spanning for more than 7 decades, Panditji was one of the most influential musician from the East. He made his mark with collaborations with legendary violinist Yehudi Menuhin; he went on to win a Grammy for the collaboration with him. George Harrison, lead guitarist of The Beatles was a student of Panditji for a brief period. Apart from that he composed the music for the legendary Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, the signature tune for Doordarshan and recomposed the music of Saare Jahaan Se Achha, at the age of 25.
Labelled as “The Godfather of music” by George Harrison himself, Panditji influenced the western culture a lot with his music, giving rise to the Raga-Rock era in the 60’s. He played during the opening day of Woodstock in 1969, and then a massive 4-hour set at the Montery Pop Festival.
During the Bangladesh freedom struggle in 1971, Panditji, along with George Harrison, hosted a charity concert for the refugees of Bangladesh who fled to India to escape the war. They organised two concerts for the cause, in the legendary Madison Square Gardens. The concert featured Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr and guitarist Eric Clapton. Panditji was later quoted saying it was –
“One of the most moving and intense musical experiences of the century”
The show was a major hit, to say the least. And it inspired similar charity rock shows later on.
The man whose music still remains a mystery to the western ears, the man who single-handedly put Indian classical music on the global map, the man without whom one cannot imagine the sitar, is sadly no more. He will be missed, but his music will live on till eternity. His music will inspire future generations of musicians of this world. His legacy is being carried forward by his daughters Anushka Shankar and Norah Jones. Anushka apparently will be contesting against her late father in the 2013 edition of the Grammy’s. It would be a good competition nonetheless; for Anushka is a very talented musician herself, with 3 Grammy’s already in her collection. It would be great to see the two sisters performing together sometime in the near future. While fans mourn his death world-wide, Panditji will be in our hearts forever and his contributions towards Indian classical music will remain unmatched for generations to come. For there won’t be another Pandit Ravi Shankar. Rest in peace sir.
