Uday Shankar
Born	8 December 1900 Udaipur, Rajasthan
Died	26 September 1977 (aged 76) Kolkata
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Dancer, choreographer
Spouse	Amala Shankar
Children	Ananda Shankar, Mamta Shankar

Uday Shankar (8 December 1900 – 26 September 1977) (Bengali: উদয় শংকর), the pioneer of modern dance in India, and a world renowned Indian dancer and choreographer, was most known for adapting Western theatrical techniques to traditional Indian classical dance, imbued with elements of Indian classical, folk, and tribal dance, thus laying the roots of modern Indian dance, which he later popularized in India, Europe, and the United States in 1920s and 1930s and effectively placed Indian dance on the world map.^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

In 1962, he was awarded by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's The National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama, with its highest award, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime achievement, and in 1971, the Govt. of India, awarded him with its second highest civilian award the Padma Vibhushan.

Early life and education[link]

Born Uday Shankar Chowdhury, in Udaipur, Rajasthan, to a Bengali family with origins in Narail (present Bangladesh). His father Shyam Shankar Chowdhury, a noted barrister, was employed with the Maharaja of Jhalawar in Rajasthan at the time of his eldest son's birth, while his mother Hemangini Devi, descended from a Bengali zamindari family. His father was conferred the title, 'Harchowdhury' by the Nawabs, but he preferred to use surname 'Chowdhury' minus 'Har.' His younger brothers were Rajendra Shankar, Debendra Shankar, Bhupendra Shankar and Ravi Shankar, born in 1920, out of them Bhupendra died young in 1926 ^[6][7]

His father was a Sanskrit scholar, graduated with honours from the Calcutta University and later studied at the Oxford University, where he became a Doctor of Philosophy.^[8] Since his father moved a lot on the account of his work, the family spent much time in Uday's maternal uncle's house at Nasratpur with his mother and brothers. Uday's studies also took place at various places including Nasratpur, Gazipur, Varanasi, and Jhalawar. At his Gazipur school, he learnt music and photography, from Ambika Charan Mukhopaddhay, his Drawing and Crafts teacher.^[8]

In 1918, at the age of eighteen, he was sent to Mumbai, to train at the J. J. School of Art and then to Gandharva Mahavidyalaya.^[9] By now, Shyam Shankar had resigned his post in Jhalawar and moved to London, here he married an English woman and practiced law, before becoming an amateur impresario, introducing Indian dance and music to Britain. Subsequently, Uday joined his father in London, and on 23 August 1920, joined the Royal College of Art, London to study paintings under Sir William Rothenstein. Here he danced at a few charity performances that his father had organized in London, and one such occasion, noted Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova happened to be present, this was to have lasting impact on his career.^[10]

Career[link]

Uday Shankar and Anna Pavlova in the famous 'Radha-Krishna' ballet, 1923.

Uday Shankar didn't have any formal training in any of the Indian classical dance forms, his presentations were creative.^[11] Though from a young age, he was exposed to both Indian classical and folk dances, as he was to ballet, during his stay in Europe, much impressed he decided to bring elements of both the styles together to create a new dance, which he called hi-dance. He went on to translate classical Indian dance forms and their iconography to dance movements, which he studied the Rajput painting and Mughal painting styles at the British Museum. Further during his stay in Britain, he came across several performing artistes, subsequently when he left for Rome on the 'Prix de Rome' scholarship of French Government, for advanced studies in art.

Soon his interaction with such artists grew and so did the idea to Indian dance in a contemporary form. The turning point came his way as a meeting with legendary Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. She was looking for artists to collaborate on India based themes. This led to the creation of ballets based on Hindu themes, 'Radha-Krishna', a duet with Anna, and 'Hindu Wedding', for inclusion in her production, 'Oriental Impressions'. The ballet was presented at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in London. Later he continued to conceive and choreograph ballets, like one based on Ajanta Caves frescoes, and performed across USA, along with her,^[12] and in time his style of dance came to be known as 'hi dance' in those days, though later he called it 'Creative dance '.^[13]

He worked with Anna for one and a half years, before starting out on his own in Paris.

'Uday Shankar Ballet Troupe', ca (1935-37).

Shankar returned to India, in 1927, along with by a French pianist, Simon Barbiere, who was now his disciple and dance partner, and a Swiss sculptres nl:Alice Boners, Alice Bonner, who wanted to study Indian art history. He was welcomed by Rabindranath Tagore himself, who also persuaded him to open a performing arts school in India.

On his returned to Paris in 1931, he founded Europe's first Indian dance company, along with Swiss sculptress Alice Boner, a former disciple. There, along with musicians Vishnu Dass Shirali and Timir Baran, he created a new template for music to accompany his newly devised movements. His first series of dance performances was held on March 3, 1931, at the Champs-Elysees Theatre in Paris, which was to become his base as he toured through Europe and also felicitated his interaction with French dancers and choreographer.^[14]

Soon he embarked on seven-year tour through the western world -- Europe and America, along with his own troupe, titled - 'Uday Shankar and his Hindu Ballet', under the ageis of impresario Sol Hurok and Celebrity Series of Boston of impresario, Aaron Richmond. He performed in United States for the first time, in January 1933, along with his dance partner Simkie, a French dancer, in New York City; as part of the visit, a reception was held at the Grand Central Art Galleries.^[15]. After, Shankar and his troupe set out on an 84-city tour throughout the country.^[16][17]

His adaptation of western theatrical techniques to Indian dance made his art hugely popular both in India and the West, and he rightly credited for ushering in an era of renaissance into traditional Indian temple dances, till now known for their strict interpretations, and which were also going through their own revival, while his brother Ravi Shankar helped popularize Indian classical music in the West.

Kalpana, 1948 film showing Uday Shankar and Amala Shankar

In 1936, he was invited by Leonard Knight Elmhirst, who had earlier assisted Rabindranath Tagore in building Sriniketan, close to Shanti Niketan, to visit Dartington Hall, Totnes, Doven for a six month residency, with his troupe and lead dancer, Simkie. Also present there, in those days where Michel Chekhov, nephew of Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, the German modern dancer-choreographer, Kurt Jooss and another German Rudolf Laban who invented the dance notation, this experience only added more exuberance to his expressionist dance.^[18]

In 1938, he made India his base, and established 'Uday Shankar India Cultural Centre', at Simtola, 3 km from Almora, in Uttarakhand Himalayas, and invited Sankaran Namboodri for Kathakali, Kandappa Pillai for Bharatanatyam, Ambi Singh for Manipuri and Ustad Allauddin Khan for music. Soon, he had battery of artists and dancers including, Guru Dutt, Shanti Bardhan, Simkie, Amala, Satyavati, Narendra Sharma, Ruma Guha Thakurta, Prabhat Ganguly, Zohra Sehgal, Uzra, Lakshmi Shankar, Shanta Gandhi; his own brothers Rajendra, Denbendra and Ravi also joined him as students. The centre however closed after four years of existence in 1942, due to paucity of funds. As his students dispersed, he regrouped his energies and headed South, where he made his only film, Kalpana (Imagination) in 1948, based on his dance, in which both he and his wife, Amala Shankar danced, the film was produced and shot at Gemini Studios, Madras.^[19]

Uday Shankar settled in Ballygunge, Kolkata in 1960, where the "Uday Shankar Center for Dance" was later opened in 1965. In 1962 he was awarded, the highest award of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship for lifetime contribution to Indian dance

Personal life[link]

He had married Amala Shankar and they had a son Ananda Shankar in 1942, and a daughter Mamata Shankar born in 1955. While Ananda Shankar was a musician and music composer who trained with Dr. Lalmani Misra rather than his uncle, Ravi Shankar, and in time became known for his fusion music, encompassing both Western and Indian music styles. Mamata Shankar, a dancer like her parents, became a noted actress, working in films by Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, she also runs 'Udayan Dance Company' in Kolkata, and travels extensive through the world.^[20]

Legacy[link]

After his death in 1977, Amala Shankar took over the Kolkata school, which continues to offer training in training in folk and classical dance, improvisation, costume design etc. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 1991. His son, Ananda Shankar's wife Tanushree Shankar also continues to teach and perform, his style of Indian modern dance, under 'Tanushree Shankar Dance Company' also based in the city.^[21] Years after, his school at Almora was disbanded, his followers and associates continued to propagate his innovative style of dancing and his aesthetic through their own work. Many went on to form their companies, thus creating an everlasting legacy of his immense body of work and influence on the dancers of his generation. Amongst them, were Shanti Bardhan were who create Ramayana ballets presentations using human beings performing like puppets, and also introduced the Panchatantra tales into dances, by creating movements of the birds and the animals. Guru Dutt, who attended his school, went on to one of India's finest film director. A student, Lakshmi Shankar later changed stream and became noted classical singer, later married Rajendra Shankar, the younger brother of Uday Shankar. Zohra Sehgal made a career for her in stage, television and cinema, both in India and Britain.^[18] Satyavati later danced with Ram Gopal at The Royal Festival Hall in London and at the Edinburgh festival in 1956. She taught Indian dance to thousands of young girls in Bombay through her classes in several of the convent schools in the city during a teaching career that spanned more than four decades.

In December 1983, his younger brother, sitar player Ravi Shankar organized a four-day festival, Uday-Ustav Festival in New Delhi, marking the 60th anniversary his professional debut in 1923, highlighted by performances by his disciples, films, an exhibition and orchestral music composed and orchestrated by Ravi Shankar himself.^[3] His birth centenary celebrations formally launch at the UNESCO headquarters, Paris, on April 26, 2001, where dancers, choreographers and scholars from all over the world assembled to pay homage to the master.^[14]

Awards[link]

• 1960: Sangeet Natak Akademi Award - 'Creative Dance' ^[22]
• 1962: Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship
• 1971: Padma Vibhushan
• 1975: Desikottama, Visva-Bharati University

Discography (not complete)[link]

The Original Uday Shankar Company Of Hindu Musicians, Recorded During The Historic 1937 Visit To The United States (all tracks from this album are included in "Ravi Shankar:Flowers of India" a release by El records in 2007) ^[23]

Further reading[link]

• Uday Shankar and his art, by Projesh Banerji. Published by B.R. Pub. Corp., 1982.
• His Dance, His Life: A Portrait of Uday Shankar, by Mohan Khokar. Published by Himalayan Books, 1983.
• Uday Shankar, by Paschimbanga Rajya Sangeet Akademi. Published by West Bengal State Sangeet Academy, Information & Cultural Affairs Dept., Govt. of West Bengal, 2000.
• Uday Shankar, by Ashoke Kumar Mukhopadhyay. 2008. ISBN 81-291-0265-1.
• Honoring Uday Shankar, by Fernau Hall. Dance Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 3 1983, pages 326 - 344.
• Who Remembers Uday Shankar?, Prof. Joan L. Erdman

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Uday Shankar

• Uday Shankar―the choreographer par excellence: A pictorial view
• Celebrating Creativity: Life & Work of Uday Shankar at IGNCA

Ravi Shankar
Shankar performs in Delhi in March 2009
Background information
Birth name	Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury
Born	(1920-04-07) 7 April 1920 (age 92) Varanasi, United Provinces, Indian Empire
Genres	Hindustani classical music
Occupations	composer, musician
Instruments	sitar
Years active	1939–present
Associated acts	Uday Shankar, Allauddin Khan, Ali Akbar Khan, Lakshmi Shankar, Yehudi Menuhin, Chatur Lal, Alla Rakha, George Harrison, Anoushka Shankar, Beatles
Website	RaviShankar.org

Ravi Shankar (Bengali: রবি শংকর; born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury on 7 April 1920), often referred to with the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the most known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.^[1]

Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Shankar. He gave up dancing in 1938 to study sitar playing under court musician Allauddin Khan. After finishing his studies in 1944, Shankar worked as a composer, creating the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, and was music director of All India Radio, New Delhi, from 1949 to 1956.

In 1956, he began to tour Europe and America playing Indian classical music and increased its popularity there in the 1960s through teaching, performance, and his association with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of The Beatles. Shankar engaged Western music by writing concerti for sitar and orchestra and toured the world in the 1970s and 1980s. From 1986 to 1992 he served as a nominated member of the upper chamber of the Parliament of India. Shankar was awarded India's highest civilian honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1999, and received three Grammy Awards. He continues to perform in the 2000s, often with his daughter Anoushka.

Early life[link]

Shankar was born 7 April 1920 in Varanasi to a Bengali Brahmin family as the youngest of seven brothers.^[2][3][4] Shankar's Bengali birth name was Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury.^[2] His father, Shyam Shankar, an administrator for the Maharaja of Jhalawar, used the Sanskrit spelling of the family name and removed its last part.^[2][5] Shyam was married to Shankar's mother Hemangini Devi, but later worked as a lawyer in London.^[2] There he married a second time while Devi raised Shankar in Varanasi, and did not meet his son until he was eight years old.^[2] Shankar shortened the Sanskrit version of his first name, Ravindra, to Ravi, for "sun".^[2]

At the age of ten, after spending his first decade in Varanasi, Shankar went to Paris with the dance group of his brother, choreographer Uday Shankar.^[6][7] By the age of 13 he had become a member of the group, accompanied its members on tour and learned to dance and play various Indian instruments.^[3][4] Uday's dance group toured Europe and America in the early to mid-1930s and Shankar learned French, discovered Western classical music, jazz, and cinema, and became acquainted with Western customs.^[8] Shankar heard the lead musician for the Maihar court, Allauddin Khan, in December 1934 at a music conference in Kolkata and Uday convinced the Maharaja of Maihar in 1935 to allow Khan to become his group's soloist for a tour of Europe.^[8] Shankar was sporadically trained by Khan on tour, and Khan offered Shankar training to become a serious musician under the condition that he abandon touring and come to Maihar.^[8]

Career[link]

Training and work in India[link]

Shankar's parents had died by the time he returned from the European tour, and touring the West had become difficult due to political conflicts that would lead to World War II.^[9] Shankar gave up his dancing career in 1938 to go to Maihar and study Indian classical music as Khan's pupil, living with his family in the traditional gurukul system.^[6] Khan was a rigorous teacher and Shankar had training on sitar and surbahar, learned ragas and the musical styles dhrupad, dhamar, and khyal, and was taught the techniques of the instruments rudra veena, rubab, and sursingar.^[6][10] He often studied with Khan's children Ali Akbar Khan and Annapurna Devi.^[9] Shankar began to perform publicly on sitar in December 1939 and his debut performance was a jugalbandi (duet) with Ali Akbar Khan, who played the string instrument sarod.^[11]

Shankar completed his training in 1944.^[3] Following his training, he moved to Mumbai and joined the Indian People's Theatre Association, for whom he composed music for ballets in 1945 and 1946.^[3][12] Shankar recomposed the music for the popular song "Sare Jahan Se Achcha" at the age of 25.^[13][14] He began to record music for HMV India and worked as a music director for All India Radio (AIR), New Delhi, from February 1949 to January 1956.^[3] Shankar founded the Indian National Orchestra at AIR and composed for it; his compositions experimented with a combination of Western instruments and classical Indian instrumentation.^[15] Beginning in the mid-1950s he composed the music for the Apu Trilogy by Satyajit Ray, which became internationally acclaimed.^[4][16]

International career 1956–1969[link]

Tabla player Alla Rakha, who was a frequent accompanist of Shankar, in 1988

V. K. Narayana Menon, director of AIR Delhi, introduced the Western violinist Yehudi Menuhin to Shankar during Menuhin's first visit to India in 1952.^[17] Shankar had performed as part of a cultural delegation in the Soviet Union in 1954 and Menuhin invited Shankar in 1955 to perform in New York City for a demonstration of Indian classical music, sponsored by the Ford Foundation.^[18][19] Shankar declined to attend due to problems in his marriage, but recommended Ali Akbar Khan to play instead.^[19] Khan reluctantly accepted and performed with tabla (percussion) player Chatur Lal in the Museum of Modern Art, and he later became the first Indian classical musician to perform on American television and record a full raga performance, for Angel Records.^[20]

Shankar heard about the positive response Khan received and resigned from AIR in 1956 to tour the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States.^[21] He played for smaller audiences and educated them about Indian music, incorporating ragas from the South Indian Carnatic music in his performances, and recorded his first LP album Three Ragas in London, released in 1956.^[21] In 1958, Shankar participated in the celebrations of the tenth anniversary of the United Nations and UNESCO music festival in Paris.^[12] From 1961, he toured Europe, the United States, and Australia, and became the first Indian to compose music for non-Indian films.^[12] Chatur Lal accompanied Shankar on tabla until 1962, when Alla Rakha assumed the role.^[21] Shankar founded the Kinnara School of Music in Mumbai in 1962.^[22]

Shankar befriended Richard Bock, founder of World Pacific Records, on his first American tour and recorded most of his albums in the 1950s and 1960s for Bock's label.^[21] The Byrds recorded at the same studio and heard Shankar's music, which led them to incorporate some of its elements in theirs, introducing the genre to their friend George Harrison of The Beatles.^[23] Harrison became interested in Indian classical music, bought a sitar and used it to record the song "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)".^[24] This led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend.^[24]

Harrison met Shankar in London in 1966 and visited India for six weeks to study sitar under Shankar in Srinagar.^[14][25][26] During the visit, a documentary film about Shankar named Raga was shot by Howard Worth, and released in 1971.^[27] Shankar's association with Harrison greatly increased Shankar's popularity and Ken Hunt of Allmusic would state that Shankar had become "the most famous Indian musician on the planet" by 1966.^[3][25] In 1967, he performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and won a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance for West Meets East, a collaboration with Yehudi Menuhin.^[25][28] The same year, the Beatles won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band which included "Within You Without You" by Harrison, a song that was influenced by Indian classical music.^[26][28] Shankar opened a Western branch of the Kinnara School of Music in Los Angeles, California, in May 1967, and published an autobiography, My Music, My Life, in 1968.^[12][22] He performed at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969, and found he disliked the venue.^[25] In the 1970s Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement.^[29]

International career 1970–present[link]

George Harrison, U.S. President Gerald Ford, and Ravi Shankar in the Oval Office in December 1974

In October 1970 Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music of the California Institute of the Arts after previously teaching at the City College of New York, the University of California, Los Angeles, and being guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the Ali Akbar College of Music.^[12][30][31] In late 1970, the London Symphony Orchestra invited Shankar to compose a concerto with sitar; Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra was performed with André Previn as conductor and Shankar playing the sitar.^[4][32] Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has criticized the usage of the orchestra in this concert as "amateurish".^[1] George Harrison organized the charity Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, in which Shankar participated.^[25] Interest in Indian music had decreased in the early 1970s, but the concert album became one of the best-selling recordings featuring it and won Shankar a second Grammy Award.^[28][31]

During the 1970s, Shankar and Harrison worked together again, recording Shankar Family & Friends in 1973 and touring North America the following year to a mixed response after Shankar had toured Europe with the Harrison-sponsored Music Festival from India.^[33] The demanding schedule weakened Shankar, and he suffered a heart attack in Chicago in November 1974, causing him to miss a portion of the tour.^[34] In his absence, Shankar's sister-in-law, singer Lakshmi Shankar, conducted the touring orchestra.^[34] The touring band visited the White House on invitation of John Gardner Ford, son of U.S. President Gerald Ford.^[34] Shankar toured and taught for the remainder of the 1970s and the 1980s and released his second concerto, Raga Mala, conducted by Zubin Mehta, in 1981.^[35][36] Shankar was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for his work on the 1982 movie Gandhi, but lost to John Williams' E.T.^[37] He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper chamber of the Parliament of India, from 12 May 1986 to 11 May 1992, after being nominated by Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.^[14][38] Shankar composed the dance drama Ghanashyam in 1989.^[22] His liberal views on musical cooperation led him to collaboration with contemporary composer Philip Glass, with whom he released an album, Passages, in 1990.^[6]

Shankar underwent an angioplasty in 1992 due to heart problems, after which George Harrison involved himself in several of Shankar's projects.^[39] Because of the positive response to Shankar's 1996 career compilation In Celebration, Shankar wrote a second autobiography, Raga Mala, with Harrison as editor.^[39] He performed in between 25 and 40 concerts every year during the late 1990s.^[6] Shankar taught his daughter Anoushka Shankar to play sitar and in 1997 became a Regent's Lecturer at University of California, San Diego.^[40] In the 2000s, he won a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album for Full Circle: Carnegie Hall 2000 and toured with Anoushka, who released a book about her father, Bapi: Love of My Life, in 2002.^[28][41] Anoushka performed a composition by Shankar for the 2002 Harrison memorial Concert for George and Shankar wrote a third concerto for sitar and orchestra for Anoushka and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.^[42][43] In June 2008, Shankar played what was billed as his last European concert,^[29] but his 2011 tour includes dates in the United Kingdom.^[44]

Style and contributions[link]

Shankar plays the raga Madhuvanti at the Shiraz Arts Festival in Iran in the 1970s

Shankar developed a style distinct from that of his contemporaries and incorporated influences from rhythm practices of Carnatic music.^[6] His performances begin with solo alap, jor, and jhala (introduction and performances with pulse and rapid pulse) influenced by the slow and serious dhrupad genre, followed by a section with tabla accompaniment featuring compositions associated with the prevalent khyal style.^[6] Shankar often closes his performances with a piece inspired by the light-classical thumri genre.^[6]

Shankar has been considered one of the top sitar players of the second half of the 20th century.^[1] He popularized performing on the bass octave of the sitar for the alap section and became known for a distinctive playing style in the middle and high registers that uses quick and short deviations of the playing string and his sound creation through stops and strikes on the main playing string.^[1][6] Narayana Menon of The New Grove Dictionary noted Shankar's liking for rhythmic novelties, among them the use of unconventional rhythmic cycles.^[45] Hans Neuhoff of Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart has argued that Shankar's playing style was not widely adopted and that he was surpassed by other sitar players in the performance of melodic passages.^[1] Shankar's interplay with Alla Rakha improved appreciation for tabla playing in Hindustani classical music.^[1] Shankar promoted the jugalbandi duet concert style and introduced new ragas, including Tilak Shyam, Nat Bhairav and Bairagi.^[6]

Recognition[link]

Shankar won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of the Jury at the 1957 Berlin International Film Festival for composing the music for the movie Kabuliwala.^[46] He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award for 1962,^[47] and was named a Fellow of the academy for 1975.^[48] Shankar was awarded the three highest national civil honors of India: Padma Bhushan, in 1967, Padma Vibhushan, in 1981, and Bharat Ratna, in 1999.^[49] He received the music award of the UNESCO International Music Council in 1975, three Grammy Awards, and was nominated for an Academy Award.^[12][28][37] Shankar was awarded honorary degrees from universities in India and the United States.^[12] He received the Kalidas Samman from the Government of Madhya Pradesh for 1987–88, the Fukuoka Asian Culture Prize in 1991, the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1992, and the Polar Music Prize in 1998.^{[50][51][52][53]} In 2001, Shankar was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Elizabeth II for his "services to music".^[54] Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and in 1997 received the Praemium Imperiale for music from the Japan Art Association.^[6] The American jazz saxophonist John Coltrane named his son Ravi Coltrane after Shankar.^[55]

Personal life and family[link]

Shankar in 1988

Shankar married Allauddin Khan's daughter Annapurna Devi in 1941 and a son, Shubhendra Shankar, was born in 1942.^[10] Shankar separated from Devi during the 1940s and had a relationship with Kamala Shastri, a dancer, beginning in the late 1940s.^[56] An affair with Sue Jones, a New York concert producer, led to the birth of Norah Jones in 1979.^[56] In 1981, Anoushka Shankar was born to Shankar and Sukanya Rajan, whom Shankar had known since the 1970s.^[56] After separating from Kamala Shastri in 1981, Shankar lived with Sue Jones until 1986. He married Sukanya Rajan in 1989.^[56]

Shubhendra "Shubho" Shankar often accompanied his father on tours.^[57] He could play the sitar and surbahar, but elected not to pursue a solo career and died in 1992.^[57] Norah Jones became a successful musician in the 2000s, winning eight Grammy Awards in 2003.^[58] Anoushka Shankar was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 2003.^[58]

Shankar is a Hindu and a vegetarian.^[59][60] He lives with Sukanya in Encinitas, California.^[61]

Discography[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Shankar, Ravi (1968). My Music, My Life. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-20113-1. 
• Shankar, Ravi (1979). Learning Indian Music: A Systematic Approach. Onomatopoeia. OCLC 21376688. 
• Shankar, Ravi (1997). Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar. Genesis Publications. ISBN 0-904351-46-7. 

Notes[link]

References[link]

• "Shankar, Ravi" (in German). Brockhaus Enzyklopädie. 20 (19th ed.). Mannheim: F. A. Brockhaus GmbH. 1993. ISBN 3-7653-1120-0. 
• Ghosh, Dibyendu (December 1983). "A Humble Homage to the Superb". In Ghosh, Dibyendu. The Great Shankars. Kolkata: Agee Prakashani. p. 7. OCLC 15483971. 
• Ghosh, Dibyendu (December 1983). "Ravishankar". In Ghosh, Dibyendu. The Great Shankars. Kolkata: Agee Prakashani. p. 55. OCLC 15483971. 
• Lavezzoli, Peter (2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1815-5. 
• Massey, Reginald (1996). The Music of India. Abhinav Publications. ISBN 81-7017-332-9. 
• Menon, Narayana (1995) [1980]. "Shankar, Ravi". In Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 17 (1st ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 1-56159-174-2. 
• Neuhoff, Hans (2006). "Shankar, Ravi". In Finscher, Ludwig (in German). Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. 15 (2nd ed.). Bärenreiter. ISBN 3-7618-1122-5. 
• Schaffner, Nicholas (1980). The Boys from Liverpool: John, Paul, George, Ringo. Taylor and Francis. ISBN 0-416-30661-6. 
• Sharma, Vishwamitra (2007). Famous Indians of the 20th Century. Pustak Mahal. ISBN 81-223-0829-5. 
• Slawek, Stephen (2001). "Shankar, Ravi". In Sadie, Stanley. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 23 (2nd ed.). London: Macmillan Publishers. ISBN 0-333-60800-3. 

External links[link]

Find more about Ravi Shankar on Wikipedia's sister projects:
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	Quotations from Wikiquote

Indian classical music portal

• "Ravi Shankar". Official website. http://www.ravishankar.org/. 
• "East Meets West Music". Ravi Shankar Foundation. http://eastmeetswestmusic.com/. 
• Ravi Shankar at Allmusic
• Ravi Shankar at the Internet Movie Database

Navigation boxes related to Ravi Shankar v t e Bharat Ratna laureates Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1954) C. Rajagopalachari (1954) C. V. Raman (1954) Bhagwan Das (1955) Mokshagundam Visvesvarayya (1955) Jawaharlal Nehru (1955) Govind Ballabh Pant (1957) Dhondo Keshav Karve (1958) Bidhan Chandra Roy (1961) Purushottam Das Tandon (1961) Dr. Rajendra Prasad (1962) Dr. Zakir Hussain (1963) Pandurang Vaman Kane (1963) Lal Bahadur Shastri (1966) Indira Gandhi (1971) V. V. Giri (1975) K. Kamaraj (1976) Mother Teresa (1980) Acharya Vinoba Bhave (1983) Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan (1987) M. G. Ramachandran (1988) B. R. Ambedkar (1990) Nelson Mandela (1990) Rajiv Gandhi (1991) Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel (1991) Morarji Desai (1991) Abul Kalam Azad (1992) J. R. D. Tata (1992) Satyajit Ray (1992) A. P. J. Abdul Kalam (1997) Gulzarilal Nanda (1997) Aruna Asaf Ali (1997) M. S. 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Satyajit Ray
A portrait of Satyajit Ray
Born	(1921-05-02)2 May 1921 Calcutta, Bengal, British India
Died	23 April 1992(1992-04-23) (aged 70) Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter, writer, music director, lyricist
Years active	1950–1991
Spouse	Bijoya Das (m. 1949–1992) «start: (1949)–end+1: (1993)»"Marriage: Bijoya Das to Satyajit Ray" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Satyajit_Ray)
Signature	150px

Satyajit Ray ( Shottojit Rae (help·info); 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian Bengali motion-picture director, writer, and illustrator who brought the Indian cinema to world recognition with Pather Panchali (1955; The Song of the Road) and its two sequels, known as the Apu Trilogy. As a director Ray was noted for his humanism, his versatility, and his detailed control over his films and their music. He was one of the greatest filmmakers of the 20th century.^[1] Ray was born in the city of Kolkata into a Bengali family prominent in the world of arts and literature. Starting his career as a commercial artist, Ray was drawn into independent filmmaking after meeting French filmmaker Jean Renoir and viewing the Italian neorealist film Bicycle Thieves of Vittorio De Sica during a visit to London.

Ray directed thirty-seven films, including feature films, documentaries and shorts. He was also a fiction writer, publisher, illustrator, graphic designer and film critic. Ray's first film, Pather Panchali (1955), won eleven international prizes, including Best Human Documentary at the Cannes film festival. This film, Aparajito (1956) and Apur Sansar (1959) form The Apu Trilogy. Ray did the scripting, casting, scoring, and editing, and designed his own credit titles and publicity material. Ray received many major awards in his career, including 32 Indian National Film Awards, a number of awards at international film festivals and award ceremonies, and an Academy Honorary Award in 1992. The Government of India honoured him with the Bharat Ratna in 1992.