Man who played music for humanitarian aid

By Amal Hewavissenti

Pandit Ravi Chaudhuri Shankar, a musician and an internationally acclaimed sitarist silenced the melodious vibrations on his sitar on December 11 last year. Announcing the sad departure of this celebrated sitarist, the Indian government said that India had lost a national treasure - catalyst to have introduced classical Indian music to the western world.

He was the oriental musician who played musical dialogues with George Harrison, the guitarist of the Beatles. Offering comments on Shankar's autobiography Ragamala, Oliver Craskett states that he is probably the best sitarist and is among the few pre-eminent classical musicians that India has ever produced.

George Harrison with Ravi Shankar

Being an impressive instrumentalist on the stage, a musician, a composer and a teacher, he made every possible effort to disseminate Indian classical music and culture throughout the world. His encounter with George Harrison was definitely a turning point in his mission to popularise classical music in the west. This was a worthwhile move particularly at a time when the international music arena had been chiefly influenced by western music.

Ravi Shankar succeeded in mesmerising his audience with what he played on his sitar - melodies that reflected superb combinations of notes of North Indian Raga System. His rapport with George Harrison brought out certain transformations in the music played on the conventional standard of the Beatles.

Following a momentous encounter with Ravi Shankar, George Harrison the guitarist of Beatles arrived in Sri Nagar India and studied Sitar under him. George Harrison (who later edited Shankar's autobiography Ragamala) studied sitar for six weeks under Ravi Shankar's guidance and offered a great deal of support for Shankar's relentless endeavour to popularise Indian music in the West.

It is interesting to note that Ravi Shankar deeply aspired to impress the pleasant depth of classical music in the minds of the music fans in the west. Ravi Shankar's musical rapport with George Harrison was so stable that Harrison included sitar instrumentals in three albums by Beatles.

The popular hit Love You Too in the album Revolver featured sitar interludes for the first time and western fans developed an "ear" for sitar segments in music.

He exploited his talent in music to collect funds for humanitarian aid for millions of displaced people in the world in the wake of war.

For instance, he was deeply moved by the plight of thousands of displaced people who fled to India during the war in Eastern Pakistan. He immediately arranged musical shows with George Harrison and collected funds to support the orphans. Subsequent on this humanitarian move, he played his sitar live on stage to collect funds to aid the Ethiopians struck by the widespread famine.

Furthermore, Ravi Shankar performed musical shows to raise funds to rebuild Haiti that was destroyed to a larger degree by an earthquake in 2010.

Ravi Chaudhuri Shankar's childhood was spent in poverty and his life in Varanasin filled his mind with bitter memories.

When he turned 10 he joined a dancing ensemble and migrated to France with his elder brother who was in charge of the team.

From then on Ravi Shankar travelled throughout Europe for performances of dancing with his brother. Here he was dedicated to disseminating Indian classical and folk dances in Europe.

At the age of 18, Shankar permanently departed from Ude's dancing ensemble that was by then one of the world's best. By this time, he had developed a passion for sitar and studied sitar under Alavdeen Khan who was a veteran musician.

At the end of six years of Sitar study, Shankar channelled his capacities into composing theme music for cinema. Ravi Shankar became the music director for Indian Broadcasting Corporation from 1949 to 1956.

The theme music for Sathyajith Ray's Apoor Sansar, Pathar Panchali and Parajitho are Shankar's masterpieces in film music. By the 1990s, Ravi Shankar staged about 30 live performances throughout the world each year in spite of increasing frailty.

He was the first to stage live shows of classical sitar music in Europe, North America, Japan and Russia.

Considering his great service and dedication to music the Indian government and several institutions honoured him with several awards. Thus, he was awarded the title of Padmavibhushan, Kalidas and Bharatha Rathna which is the highest title an Indian could ever have. His frail health and excessive stress caused by repeated foreign tours and live performances expedited his death. Yet, suppressing the conditions caused by ill health, Ravi Shankar concentrated more on the performance at Long Beach - California on December 7 2012. This was his last performance.

This great musician was subjected to a serious heart surgery in 2011 but his ill health continued to plague him till his death. After the surgery Shankar suffered from difficulty in breathing but he put on more weight on his live performances in different countries. In whatever way, Ravi Shankar is a great genius in music who seemed to have believed that preserving a certain form of art unique to a country is inadequate unless it is introduced to other countries.