Ravi Shankar, Who Brought Eastern Music To Western Legends, Dies

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF SITAR MUSIC)

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Now let's hear about the musical legacy left behind by Ravi Shankar. He was master of this stringed instrument, the classical Indian sitar. Shankar died yesterday at the age of 92 in Southern California. A statement said he had heart and upper respiratory problems. He had undergone heart surgery last week.

Shankar was called the godfather of world music. His mission: to bring the music of India to the West. NPR's special correspondent Susan Stamberg has this remembrance.

SUSAN STAMBERG, BYLINE: When he was just 10 years old, Ravi Shankar began performing in Europe and the U.S. with his family's Indian dance troupe. It was a glamour life - the best hotels, the best meals, celebrities coming backstage to say just how much they'd enjoyed the concert.

But at age 18, Ravi Shankar gave up all the glitter, went back to India, to a dusty little town, to study with a guru who taught him the sitar. He apprenticed for seven years, then began performing in public on that ancient and difficult string instrument. Eventually he became a master.

(SOUNDBITE OF SITAR MUSIC)

STAMBERG: Ravi Shankar's music is like a fine Indian sari - silken, swirling, exotic. It can break your heart with its beauty.

(SOUNDBITE OF SITAR MUSIC)

STAMBERG: Shankar was a respected classical musician, but in 1966 he became an international superstar when Beatle George Harrison studied with him.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "NORWEGIAN WOOD")

STAMBERG: Shankar's goal - to make Eastern music known in the West - was achieved with help from The Beatles. Eventually, though, he grew discouraged by the hippie scene, where drugs clouded the attention of his audience. He found Woodstock terrifying - half a million stoned and muddy people, he said.

Back in India, Shankar wrote sitar concerts for Western symphony orchestras and continued touring. A composer and performer, Ravi Shankar remained a teacher too. In December 2004, when I visited his home in New Delhi, the sitar master was still giving lessons.

(SOUNDBITE OF SITAR MUSIC)

RAVI SHANKAR: Da-da-da-da-da.

(SOUNDBITE OF SITAR MUSIC)

SHANKAR: You're pulling, bending the string.

STAMBERG: Ravi Shankar sits on the carpeted floor in an old brown sweater vest playing simple exercises. His sitar fills the room with feeling.

SHANKAR: So it - it sort of is a combination of shanta and karuna, which means the tranquility and also sadness. And this sadness is something which is like wanting to reach out and not finding it, whether for a lover or for God.

STAMBERG: Ravi Shankar's music reached out to some of the West's finest musicians. Violinist Yehudi Menuhin and composer Philip Glass were friends and collaborators. One of today's top pop stars, Grammy winner Norah Jones, is Shankar's daughter. Another daughter, Anoushka, learned sitar from her father and now takes his classical tradition and makes it more contemporary.

A few winters ago in Delhi, remembering those demanding early years of sitar studies, Ravi Shankar said his guru's most important lesson was this.

SHANKAR: He says that we have to earn our livelihood, and for that we have to perform and accept money. But music is not for sale. The music that I have learned and I want to give is like worshipping God. It's absolutely like a prayer.

(SOUNDBITE OF SITAR MUSIC)

STAMBERG: Ravi Shankar once said he felt ecstasy when he made music. The world was erased, and he experienced great peace. His music embraced and lifted those who heard and loved it - his widow, Sukanya, his daughters and his many fans. I'm Susan Stamberg, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.