Music

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Sitar virtuoso became hippie musical icon

By: Staff Writer

Posted: 12/12/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

FILE - In this Feb. 7, 2012 file photo, Indian musician and sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, 92, performs during a concert in Bangalore, India. Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. He was 92. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi, File) (CP)

RAVI Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, has died. He was 92.

The prime minister's office confirmed his death and called him a "national treasure."

Labelled "the godfather of world music" by George Harrison, Shankar helped millions of classical, jazz and rock lovers discover the centuries-old traditions of Indian music.

He also pioneered the concept of the rock benefit with the 1971 Concert For Bangladesh. To later generations, he was known as the estranged father of popular American singer Norah Jones.

As early as the 1950s, Shankar began collaborating with and teaching some of the greats of Western music, including violinist Yehudi Menuhin and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. He played well-received shows in concert halls in Europe and the United States, but faced a constant struggle to bridge the musical gap between the West and the East.

His close relationship with Harrison, the Beatles lead guitarist, shot Shankar to global stardom in the 1960s.

-- The Associated Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition December 12, 2012 C2

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