Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar Passes Away(April 7,1920 - Dec 11,2012)

  
 Death

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar(92)passed away in San Diego, US, On Tuesday Dec 11,2012 evening. He was admitted to Scripps Memorial Hospital on Dec 6,2012 Thursday after he complained of breathlessness.


Family
Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar is survived by his wife Sukanya and musician daughters, sitar player Anushka Shankar, singer Norah Jones, 3 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren

  
Music Career

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar composed his first new raga in 1945 (30 more would follow) and began a prolific recording career

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar in the early 1950s and the mid-1960s became the leading international emissary for Indian music, first performing as a solo artist in the USSR in 1954, in Europe and North America in 1956, and Japan in 1958.

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar was appointed Director of Music at the Indian People’s Theatre Association, and later held the same position at All India Radio (1949-56)

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar met George Harrison, Lead Guitarist of The Beatles in London in 1966.George Harrison later came to India to learn to play the sitar from Ravi Shankar. The sitar was, most famously, used in The Beatles 'Norwegian Wood', catapulting Ravi Shankar to greater international acclaim.

Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar brought Indian classical music to north America. With the collaboration with The Beatles, he took it to the world stage.

 Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films

Awards and Recognition to Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar

• won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury for composing the music for the film ' Kabuliwala' at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival

• became the first Indian to win a Grammy in 1967 for “West Meets East” with violinist Yehudi Menuhin in the Best Chamber Music Performance category

• awarded Padma Bhushan in 1967

• awarded Padma Vibhushan in 1981 

• nominated for an Oscar for his musical score for the film "Gandhi."(1982)

• Ramon Magsaysay award winner in 1992

•  nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha in 1986(May 12, 1986 - May 11,1992)

• awarded Bharat Ratna in 1999

• won Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Full Circle - Carnegie Hall 2000 

• made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II in 2001 for his services to music 
• recipient of the ISPA Distinguished Artist Award in 2003
• A Bust of  Sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar was unveiled by His Royal Highness the Duke of Kent at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in London in Dec 2006
• Received the Fellowship Award for 9 decades of outstanding contribution to music industry at the 2011 Asian Awards held in London

• Honorary Doctor of Laws from the University of Melbourne,Australia in 2010 (his 17th doctorate)