Grammy For Ravi Shankar
nkdatta8839
Thursday, 28 February, 2002, 13:41 GMT
Grammy for Indian sitar maestro
Legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar has been honoured with
America's most prestigious music award, a Grammy.
Ravi Shankar has been playing the sitar for more than 60 years, and
has long been recognised as one of the great exponents of Indian
classical music.
He was awarded the Grammy for his composition Full Circle.
The award adds one more feather to the cap of the sitar maestro.
He had previously been presented with the British CBE and France's
highest civilian honour - Commander of the Legion of Honour.
Artistic roots
The musician, now 81, has had a varied career.
He entered the art world as a dancer but switched to the sitar at the
age of 18.
Much of the calm spirituality evident in his music is rooted in his
childhood in the holy city of Benares on the banks of River Ganges.
"There used to be so much entertainment, singing dancing, little
dramas going on", he once said.
"You saw everything of life, from birth to death. It was really like
magic."
International fame
Ravi Shankar's name has become synonymous with music in India.
The sitar virtuoso is also credited for introducing Indian classical
music to western audiences, most famously through his collaboration in
the 1960s with the Beatles.
He taught George Harrison and when the group stopped off in India
after a tour in the Philippines, he was dubbed the "Beatle's Guru".
The musician also collaborated with the late violinist and composer,
Yehudi Menuhin, and won his first Grammy for a joint album called East
meets West.
The honour came a second time in for the 1972 Concert for Bangladesh
with George Harrison.
Seeker
news:bed799d9.02022...@posting.google.com...
> BBC News
> Thursday, 28 February, 2002, 13:41 GMT
>
> Grammy for Indian sitar maestro
>
> Legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar has been honoured with
> America's most prestigious music award, a Grammy.
Well deserved award for Ravi. He is indeed a legend. His sitar playing is
not matched by anyone else.
nkdatta88839
> BBC News
> Thursday, 28 February, 2002, 13:41 GMT
>
> Grammy for Indian sitar maestro
>
> Legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar has been honoured with
> America's most prestigious music award, a Grammy.
********************************************************************************
Another Grammy should have been awarded to Ravi Shankar for the Fine
Art of having sex with the daughter of Ustad Ali Akbar Khan in the
rhythm of Raga Vim Naag and in the process of building a checkered
career in Indian Classical Music through convergence with the
Persian-Aryan-North-Indian-Muslim-Mughal Gharana. Kali Das Guha (The
Dark Bengali Hindoo Black Slave who lived in the Cave and had sex with
Shakuntala in comtemplation of anal orgasm with Radha, would not
simply have made it. This is another Great example of achievement in
Indian Music via convergence through sex with the muslim Ustad's
beautiful daughter.
********************************************************************************
aryanviking
Seeker wrote:
---> Ah how do you know that it is not matched by anyone else?? Maybe this
guy plays sitar well -- but as a human being he is just an insult to the
mankind ---
Seeker
news:3C7ED712...@europe.com...
I just have not heard anyone play Sitar as well as him. Granted I am no
music critic, but still I believe his expertise is unparalleled. BTW, how is
he an insult to the mankind. I heard his interview on NPR and he sounded
like a well-balanced and an interesting man.
Zafar Khan
daughter). Ravi and Annapurna divorced back in 1940's when Ravi left
Allaudin's daughter for another woman. None of them were Muslims even
though their names suggest that they were. There was no "convergence",
since Ustad Allaudin(Ali Akbar's dad, and a Hindu--despite being
Muslim by birth) was Ravi's teacher from day one. Rather, Ravi's music
shone much later in his career when he started experimenting with
George Harrison(a Buddhist?). In any case, I think the religions of
the people involved are irrelevant.
I guess I don't understand the point about "convergence through
sex"...but then that may just be because I have trouble understanding
perverts. This poster, Datta character, shall now be on my permanent
ignore. "anal orgasms" indeed on a family channel like SCP!!!
Zafar
Gul Agha
I heard the maestro live last year, after a gap of about 20 years. He
still is the masterful player, but has mellowed with age -- there was
more meditative and slower music this time around. Possibly just the
mood he was in that day but possibly his current form. In any event,
I appreciated the slow methodical pace.
--
Peace,
Gul A. Agha
nkdatta8839
Frontline
Vol. 16 :: No. 04 :: Feb. 13 - 26, 1999
A musical genius
[Pandit Ravi Shankar, arguably the most outstanding sitar artist, is
truly a musician of the entire nation, a true Bharat Ratna]
R. RAMACHANDRAN
THE conferring of the Bharat Ratna on Pandit Ravi Shankar, arguably
the most outstanding sitar artist the country has produced, begs the
question: why did it take so long in coming? Given that the majority
of the 34 winners of the award so far are politicians of various hues,
if at least a good number had been from the arts and the sciences it
would have helped add value to this highest civilian award of the
nation. However, only three from the arts, including Ravi Shankar,
have won the award so far, the other two being the Carnatic vocalist
M.S. Subbulakshmi and the renowned film-maker Satyajit Ray. But even
this recognition came when all the three were well past their creative
best - in the case of Satyajit Ray, in fact, posthumously.
The award to Ravi Shankar comes as he turns 80. Even though it is not
the same Panditji today that his millions of fans and followers have
known for the last five decades, his inventive genius is still at
work. This was seen in ample measure during his Swarna Jayanti Concert
in New Delhi last year on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of
Independence. His latest Compact Disc 'The Chants of India' is
evidence that he is still far from the twilight of his creativity.
Nevertheless, it is pertinent to note that this is one more instance
of state recognition following various international recognitions of
high order. Last year, Ravi Shankar was given along with Ray Charles,
the Polar Music Award of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, regarded
as the "Nobel Prize for Music": the citation described him as the
"Music Bridge Builder Between East and West". In some sense,
therefore, the award of Bharat Ratna to someone like Ravi Shankar is
merely a stamp of the Government on his eminence, which the nation and
the world have known for long.
IF there is a greater understanding today of Indian music and its
underlying philosophy around the world (whose benefits a good number
of present-generation artists of both North and South would seem to be
reaping with their musical tours abroad) and there is a pervasive
influence of Indian music on the global musical conscience and, by
extension, on Indian culture itself, it is in no small measure owing
to Ravi Shankar. His "cultural ambassadorship" can be said to have
begun with his performance along with Yehudi Menuhin and David
Oistrakh at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational,
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) in Paris exactly five
decades ago. Since then his urge to experiment and to spread the soul
and spirit of Indian music resulted in his association with the
Beatles in the 1960s and flirtation with pop and rock groups and
performances at Monterey and Woodstock Festivals during the 1970s on
the one hand and association with major musical figures of the day,
such as Menuhin, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Hasan Yamamoto and Mushimi
Miyashita, on the other.
Writing the preface to Ravi Shankar's autobiographical My Music, My
Life (1969), Yehudi Menuhin says: "To the Indian quality of serenity,
the Indian musician brings an exalted personal expression of union
with the infinite, as in infinite love. Few modern composers in the
West have achieved this quality, though we revere it in the works of
Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. If the Indian musicians like Ravi Shankar,
who are so graciously beginning to bring this genius to us, can help
us find this quality again, then we shall have much to thank them
for."
Indeed, Ravi Shankar himself saw this as his main mission when he
carried Indian music to the West at a time when few would have dared
to do this given the political and economic turmoil that India was in.
"I have given the West the soul of our music. Not the skill or
virtuosity (taiyyari) alone - the West has an abundant measure of that
in their own tradition. With taiyyari, you can get an instant
response, applause. After that they will forget you. The true soul of
our music is in adhyatmikata, its spiritual quality. The West had it
in the past."
His deep rootedness in the tradition of Indian music - being the
disciple of the legendary Ustad Allauddin Khan enabled him to imbibe,
absorb and live this tradition - helped him achieve this. He could
delve into the depths of Indian music and present its quintessence to
Western audiences in a manner that it could be enjoyed and
assimilated.
While this musical mission to the West - where he has spent most of
his life - did catapult Ravi Shankar to a world celebrity status and,
in some sense, even a cult figure in the West, his contribution to
Hindustani classical music itself has also been immense. It is to him
that music lovers owe the elevation of the status of sitar as a
concert instrument of great versatility and range. Indeed, he has
influenced instrumental Hindustani music in general, not just the
sitar, and raised the sophistication in the structural format of the
instrumental performance - a systematic and structured exposition of
the alap, jor, jhala and the various tempos of the gat.
With his egalitarian outlook in music, Ravi Shankar drew inspiration
from Carnatic music's vast repertoire of ragas as well. In that sense
he is truly a musician of the entire nation, a true Bharat Ratna. He
enjoyed Carnatic music and, like vocalists Abdul Karim Khan and Ustad
Amir Khan, was deeply influenced by it. He popularised many Carnatic
ragas in the Hindustani system - notably, Charukesi, Janasammodh-ini,
Keerawani, Malayamarutam, Revati (which he called Bairagi), among
others.
The experimentalist and the innovator in him also led him to compose
in many Indian and foreign films though he laments that he could not
devote as much time in composing for films as he would have liked to.
His music for Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy stands supreme amongst his
scores for films. Among his scores for Hindi films, Anuradha is a gem,
the other noteworthy scores being for Godan, Dharti Ke Lal and Meera.
Ravi Shankar's versatility has extended to ballets, musicals, dance
dramas (like "Ghanashayam'') and orchestral performances.
What does Ravi Shankar feel about his own achievements? "In music," he
said a few years ago, "I wasted a lot of time. I spent energy in doing
new things, in experiments. Maybe if I had been completely focussed on
one single aspect, on the purely classical approach to the sitar, I am
sure I would have gone further, much deeper. I do feel that. But the
truth is that even as I am saying this, I want to do so many other
things. Audiovisual ideas keep crowding my mind. I have to admit that
I have not changed. I cannot change...I have to be myself." If he had
changed, the world of music would have been that much the poorer.
And this story of his self again finds expression in his recently
released autobiography Ragamala, an updated version of his My Music,
My Life.
nkdatta88839
> I think Annapurna Devi was Ustad Ali Akbar's sister(and not his
> daughter). Ravi and Annapurna divorced back in 1940's when Ravi left
> Allaudin's daughter for another woman. None of them were Muslims even
> though their names suggest that they were.
There was no "convergence",
> since Ustad Allaudin(Ali Akbar's dad, and a Hindu--despite being
> Muslim by birth) was Ravi's teacher from day one. Rather, Ravi's music
> shone much later in his career when he started experimenting with
> George Harrison(a Buddhist?). In any case, I think the religions of
> the people involved are irrelevant.
Please come out of your muslim shell. Don't hide behind a muslim
name.
Just taken by your audacity to make a Hindoo Alauddin out of a Muslim
one and then justifying it with the notion that he was a practicing
Hindoo.
Oh Yes. All Indian Muslims are Practicing Hindus by your definition.
Only the Pakistanis try very hard to look West and stretch themselves
as far West as possible to be Arabs. By the same argument,
Bangladeshis should perhaps stretch as far East as possible to be
Burmese, shouldn't they,
you stupid fool ?
I guess I don't understand the point about "convergence through
> sex"...but then that may just be because I have trouble understanding
> perverts. This poster, Datta character, shall now be on my permanent
> ignore. "anal orgasms" indeed on a family channel like SCP!!!
> Zafar
Zafar: How were you born ? Did your Dad happen to give you birth by
giving your Mom Oral Sex, instead of Anal ? Is the predominant style
in Pakistan and North-Western India Oral as opposed to Anal ? Why
don't you find out from Benazir and Zardari or Perhaps Menaka and
Sanjay Gandhi ?
SCP is not PBS. Smell the coffee and get off the insanitarium.
koolfire_ro
madherchood pimp who let you inside..you had contigency worker pass
which they issued for ushers.cleaners,cloak room helpers etc where you
were standing in gents bathroom and handing over hand towels after
people finished pissing....you herd ravishankers music over public
address system in the bath room speaker...and coming and reeling us
with some 20 yers bullshit maestro and he mellowed with age cock and
bull story...lavda ka bal you dont know diffrence between a sitar and
empty dust bin even if they showed you one, on your dumb face...yes
you appreciated his slow methordical pace..hehehe fucking gadha was
dreaming how honourable it would be if the pandit humped me slow and
methordically..rather than get raped by indian subedar major.
Zafar Khan
> > daughter). Ravi and Annapurna divorced back in 1940's when Ravi left
> > Allaudin's daughter for another woman. None of them were Muslims even
> > though their names suggest that they were.
>
>
>
>
> There was no "convergence",
> > since Ustad Allaudin(Ali Akbar's dad, and a Hindu--despite being
> > Muslim by birth) was Ravi's teacher from day one. Rather, Ravi's music
> > shone much later in his career when he started experimenting with
> > George Harrison(a Buddhist?). In any case, I think the religions of
> > the people involved are irrelevant.
>
> Please come out of your muslim shell. Don't hide behind a muslim
> name.
> Just taken by your audacity to make a Hindoo Alauddin out of a Muslim
> one and then justifying it with the notion that he was a practicing
> Hindoo.
? Is this the first time in history a person has changed his religion
from Islam to something else? I think not, and I don't understand the
big deal? Even if Alaudin(or Anapurrna Devi) were Muslim, they was not
known for their Muslimness(but for their musical talent). Ravi Shankar
is known for his music, not his Hinduness. Its like saying that Sonny
Bono and Cher made sweet music by "convergence through sex between
Christianity and Judaism". If anything, the fact that Alaudin was Ravi
Shankar's mentor from day-1, had a lot more to with Ravi's style than
"anal sexual ceonvergence"(or whatever!!!)...
> Oh Yes. All Indian Muslims are Practicing Hindus by your definition.
My definition being?
> Only the Pakistanis try very hard to look West and stretch themselves
> as far West as possible to be Arabs. By the same argument,
I don't know if I can generalize. I, despite being an average
Pakistani, could not possibly speak for _all_ Pakistanis. You, who is
neither average, nor Pakistani are even less qualified. I, an average
Pakistani, don't look west or east. I am as proud of the achievement
of a fellow Muslim from Indonesia(or Bangladesh) as I am of a Muslim
from Morocco. I am not very "nationality" minded--these are artificial
lines drawn by cartographers.
One difference between you and me is that I am not obsessed with any
country(even mine, let alone a third country), nor have I dedicated 12
hours of every day of my life to malign a people. Same with religion.
I had more Jewish friends in college than I did Muslim. I also have a
fair number of Hindu friends. These are non issues.
> Bangladeshis should perhaps stretch as far East as possible to be
> Burmese, shouldn't they,
Is that a "policy" statement? Is the next president, Mr NK Datta going
to decree that? If its not, then individual Bangladeshis can do
whatever they very well please--stretch even further east to New
Zealand, Tuvalu or Nauru if they like! Its not going to cause me any
sleepless nights.
> you stupid fool ?
? And how did you come to this conclusion? :)
> I guess I don't understand the point about "convergence through
> > sex"...but then that may just be because I have trouble understanding
> > perverts. This poster, Datta character, shall now be on my permanent
> > ignore. "anal orgasms" indeed on a family channel like SCP!!!
> > Zafar
>
> Zafar: How were you born ? Did your Dad happen to give you birth by
> giving your Mom Oral Sex, instead of Anal ? Is the predominant style
> in Pakistan and North-Western India Oral as opposed to Anal ? Why
> don't you find out from Benazir and Zardari or Perhaps Menaka and
> Sanjay Gandhi ?
Other people's sexual habits don't interest me. Therefore, I don't
wish to discuss this issue with my Dad, Zardari or Gandhi. I would
imagine the predominant style of sex is apparently neither oral nor
anal(and hence the population growth rate of Pakistan and
"North-Western India"). I enjoy copulation _within_ my own bedroom.
Discussing sexual acts, positions etc. in "soc.culture.*" fora or with
people that you are not intimately involved with, is not good manners.
In fact, your post(and your "justification" above) reeks of
voyeurism--not my cuppa chai!
> SCP is not PBS.
Neither is it alt.frustrated, alt.perverted or alt.lonely. I don't
have a choice in what you write. But I do have a choice in what I
read! Voyeuristic gushings I don't wish to read, so please be careful
in future!
Zafar
>Smell the coffee and get off the insanitarium.
?
nkdatta8839
BBC Profile:
Ravi Shankar
Born in the sacred city of Varanasi (Benares), Ravi Shankar has
achieved legendary stature as a composer, performer and teacher.
Western appreciation and understanding of the music of India owes him
a huge debt.
As a child, Shankar performed in the dance company of his brother
Uday, but gave up dancing at the age of 18 to study the sitar (a
long-necked Indian lute). For 7 years he worked under the outstanding
teacher of Indian Classical music, Allauddin Khan, whose daughter he
married. Allauddin was a strict disciplinarian, expecting his pupils
to renounce material comforts so that nothing would distract them from
their music. To him, the performance of music was a deeply spiritual
act which required total devotion, and he imparted this attitude to
his pupils.
In 1949, Shankar became music director of All-India Radio, where he
composed many film scores, notably for the celebrated Apu trilogy of
Bengali director Satyajit Ray (1951-55). From 1956-57, he toured
Europe, Canada and the United States, introducing Indian Classical
music to the West with great success.
In 1958, he performed at a music festival in Paris with violinists
Yehudi Menuhin and David Oistrakh. Shankar kept up a close
relationship with Menuhin, and in 1966 wrote Prabhati (Of the Morning)
for him. In 1967, he performed with him for the United Nations Human
Rights Day 'West Meets East'. Shankar has written 2 concertos for
sitar and orchestra (1971, 1976). He has also been a strong influence
on the American composer Philip Glass, with whom he collaborated to
compose Passages in 1990.
However, Shankar's popularity is certainly not confined to the
classical world. In the 1960s, he taught Indian music to the British
pop group the Beatles, impressing George Harrison particularly, and
this association helped bring Indian music to an even wider public.
Shankar appeared at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and the
Woodstock Festival in New York in 1969. His performance at the Concert
for Bangladesh gained him a gold disc in 1972 to commemorate the sale
of more than 1 million dollars' worth of records. He has twice won
Grammy awards (1966, 1972).
Shankar has been showered with honours both in his own country and all
over the world, receiving 14 doctorates of music. In 1999 he was
awarded the highest civilian citation in India, the Bharat Ratna, or
'Jewel of India'.
SPS22
> of a Muslim from Morocco. I am not very
> "nationality" minded--these are artificial
> lines drawn by cartographers.
Are you as proud of achievments of non-Muslims?
-Surinder
Zafar Khan
Well, yeah--if I can somehow identify with them in some way. I can
identify with say a famous person from my almamater, one of my
numerous nonmuslim friends who makes it big, one of my colleagues who
gets a patent, and so on...
koolfire_ro
AFTERTHOUGHT:- my apoligies to you mr gul agha...most unbecoming
of me to mistake you for gulshan khan....there is no intention to
malign the content of your post after i realised the mistake.please
accept.