Guṇa (Sanskrit: गुण) means 'string' or 'a single thread or strand of a cord or twine'. In more abstract uses, it may mean 'a subdivision, species, kind, quality', or an operational principle or tendency.^[1]

In Samkhya philosophy, there are three major guṇas that serve as the fundamental operating principles or 'tendencies' of prakṛti (universal nature) which are called: sattva guṇa, rajas guṇa, and tamas guṇa. The three primary gunas are generally accepted to be associated with creation (rajas), preservation (sattva), and destruction (tamas) (see also Aum and Trimurti).^[2] The entire creation and its process of evolution is carried out by these three major gunas.^[1][3][4]

In classical literature[link]

In classical literature (for example, the Mahabharata, the Bhagavata Purana and the Bhagavad Gita), the guṇas are also associated with the five elements (mahabhutas),^[5] five senses, and five associated body parts:

• Akasha (space), associated with the guṇa śábda ("sound") and with the ear.
• Vayu (air), associated with the guṇa sparśa ("feeling") and with the skin.
• Tejas or Agni (fire), associated with the guṇa rūpa ("appearance", and thus color and tangibility) and with the eye.
• Apas or Jalam (water), associated with the guṇa rasa ("taste", and thus also flavor and tangibility, as well as shape) and with the tongue.
• Prithivi (earth), associated with all the preceding guṇas as well as the guṇa gandha ("smell") and with the nose.

Bhagavad Gita[link]

The Triguna appear prominently in the discourse of Krishna to Arjuna upon the battlefield of Kurukshetra that is the backdrop for the Bhagavad Gita. All three gunas are held to delude the World:

त्रिभिर्गुणमयैर्भावैरेभिः सर्वमिदं जगत्‌।

मोहितं नाभिजानाति मामेभ्यः परमव्ययम्‌॥ ७.१३॥

tribhirguṇamayairbhāvairebhiḥ sarvamidaṁ jagat |

mohitaṁ nābhijānāti māmebhyaḥ paramavyayam || 7.13||

The World deluded by these Three Gunas does not know Me:

Who is beyond these Gunas and imperishable. (7.13)

In Samkhya philosophy[link]

In Samkhya philosophy, a guṇa is one of three "tendencies": tamas, sattva, and rajas. These categories have become a common means of categorizing behavior and natural phenomena in Hindu philosophy, and also in Ayurvedic medicine, as a system to assess conditions and diets. For this reason Triguna and tridosha are considered to be related in the traditions of Ayurveda. Guṇa is the tendency not action itself. For instance, sattva guṇa is the tendency towards purity but is not purity itself. Similarly rajas guṇa is that force which tends to create action but is not action itself. Each of the three gunas is ever present simultaneously in every particle of creation but the variations in equilibrium manifest all the variety in creation including matter, mind, body and spirit.^[1][4]

All creation is made up by a balance composed of all three forces. For creation to progress, each new stage "needs a force to maintain it and another force to develop it into a new stage. The force that develops the process in a new stage is rajo guna, while tamo guna is that which checks or retards the process in order to maintain the state already produced, so that it may form the basis for the next stage".

• Sattva (originally "being, existence, entity") has been translated to mean balance, order, or purity. Indologist Georg Feuerstein translates sattva as "lucidity".^[6]
• Rajas (originally "atmosphere, air, firmament") is also translated to mean change, movement or dynamism.^[2][7] (Rajas is etymologically unrelated to the word raja.)
• Tamas (originally "darkness", "obscurity") has been translated to mean "too inactive" or "inertia", negative, lethargic, dull, or slow.^[7] Usually it is associated with darkness, delusion, or ignorance.^[8] A tamas quality also can refer to anything destructive or entropic. In his Translation and Commentary on the Bhagavad-Gita, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi explains "The nature of tamo guna is to check or retard, though it should not be thought that if the movement is upward tamo guna is absent".^[3]

In Nyaya philosophy[link]

In Nyaya philosophy, 24 guṇas are enumerated as properties or characteristics of all created things, including śábda, sparśa, rūpa, rasa, and gandha.

1. rūpa: appearance (shape and color).
2. rasa: taste.
3. gandha: smell.
4. sparśa: feeling (touch).
5. sāṃkhya: amount.
6. parimāṇa: dimension.
7. pṛthaktva: distinctness.
8. saṃyoga: conjunction.
9. vibhāga: disjunction.
10. paratva: remoteness.
11. aparatva: proximity.
12. gurutva: gravity.
13. dravatva: fluidity.
14. sneha: viscidity.
15. śábda: sound.
16. buddhi/jñāna: enlightenment/knowing.
17. sukha: pleasure.
18. duḥkha: pain.
19. icchā: desire.
20. dveṣa: aversion.
21. prayatna: effort.
22. dharma: merit or virtue.
23. adharma: demerit.
24. saṃskāra: the self-reproductive quality;

In grammar[link]

In the Sanskrit grammatical tradition (Vyakarana), guṇa is a technical term corresponding to what is now termed the full grade in Indo-European ablaut. That is, it refers to a set of normal-length vowels that are less reduced than the basic set (in modern terms, the zero grade), but more reduced than the vṛddhi vowels (in modern terms, the lengthened grade). As an example, ṛ, i, u are basic (zero-grade) vowels, with corresponding guṇa (full-grade) vowels ar, e, o and vṛddhi (lengthened-grade) vowels ār, ai, au. (This is more understandable once it is realized that, at an earlier stage of development, Sanskrit e and o were ai and au, and Sanskrit ai and au were āi and āu.) This classification was developed by Pāṇini in his Ashtadhyayi.^[9]

People[link]

• Guna people, indigenous peoples of Panama and Colombia

See also[link]

• Maya
• Nirguna Brahman, Saguna Brahman
• Jain (Satvika)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sattwa, Rajas & Tamas From The Mahabharata

Coordinates: 24°38′35″N 77°18′11″E / 24.64296°N 77.30307°E / 24.64296; 77.30307

Shankar Mahadevan
Shankar Mahadevan at the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy Night.
Background information
Born	(1967-03-03) March 3, 1967 (age 45) Chembur, Mumbai[1]
Genres	Indian music, playback singing, composer
Occupations	Singer, composer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1998–present
Associated acts	Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy
Notable instruments
Vocals and Veena

Shankar Mahadevan (Tamil: ஷங்கர் மகாதேவன்) is an Indian music composer and singer. He is a part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio team that composes for Indian films and a playback singer.

Early life[link]

Shankar Mahadevan was born and brought up in Chembur, a suburb of Mumbai,^[1] to a Tamil Iyer family from Palakkad, Kerala.^[2] He learned Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music in his childhood and started playing the veena at the age of five. He studied under Srinivas Khale, a well known Marathi music composer. He went to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour High School in Chembur. He subsequently attended SIES College in Sion and completed his HSC. He graduated in 1988 with a degree in Computer Science Engineering from Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai under the auspices of Mumbai University. He worked as a software engineer on Oracle Version Six.

Career[link]

After working for a while for Leading Edge Systems, Shankar ventured into the field of music.^[3] He earned his first award as a playback singer in a Tamil movie, collaborating with A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in Kandukondain Kandukondain. A prominent star in the Kodambakkam film industry, he gained further recognition upon the release of his first music album, Breathless, in 1998. The title track of the album had been prepared in such a manner that it is sung without any break, so it appears to be sung in one breath and thus the title "breathless". He later got into music direction and became a part of the Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy trio, composing music for Hindi films.

He has sung in many films for A. R. Rahman, Anu Malik and other music directors, performing songs like "Urvashi Take It Easy" from Humse Hai Muqabla (1995), "I Love You" from Auzaar (1997), "Kay Sera Sera" from Pukar (2000) and many more songs in the nineties. Most of the songs sung by him in Hindi are composed by him (as part of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy). He has sung numerous songs in Tamil for a multitude of composers, ranging from veterans to newcomers. He has also sung in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Marathi and other regional languages. In Marathi he has sung for noted composers like Shridhar Phadke and Ajay-Atul.

He enjoyed a successful run with the fusion jazz band SILK with Louis Banks on keyboards, Sivamani on percussion, Sridhar Parthasarathy on mridangam and Karl Peters on bass guitar.

Shankar Mahadevan has also provided vocals for several songs by the band Remember Shakti, which features musicians including ,Musician Chandan Sharma, Musician John McLaughlin, U. Srinivas and V. Selvaganesh. He was music director for the famous "School Chale Hum" song on Doordarshan.

He was a mentor on Zee TV's musical reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2009.

He is a team captain, judge, and mentor on Star Plus's musical show Music Ka Maha Muqqabla for the team Shankar's Rockstars; his team won Music Ka Maha Muqqabala 2010.

In March 2009 he performed at Ragam 09, an intercollegiate cultural festival hosted by the National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NITC) in Kerala.

In February 2010 he performed at Kuruksastra 10, an intercollege cultural festival hosted by the SASTRA University, Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu.

In September 2010 he performed at PULSE-2010, India's Second largest Inter-college Festival at All India Institute of Medical Sciences.

In March 2011 he started the Shankar Mahadevan Academy. The Academy offers tutorials and virtual vocal courses in Carnatic and Hindustani classical music, religious chanting, Indian folk music, and Bollywood songs.^[4]

Shankar was Invited by the UNESCO and the US state Dept to perform at UN general assembly hall for the finale of the International Jazz festival held on 30th April 2012.

Awards[link]

National Film Awards

• 2000: Best Male Playback Singer - "Yenna Solla Pogirai" (Kandukondain Kandukondain)
• 2004: Best Music Direction - Kal Ho Naa Ho (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)
• 2008: Best Male Playback Singer - "Maa" (Taare Zameen Par)

State Film Awards

• 2008: Kerala State Film Award for Best Singer - "Kalyaana Kacheri" (Madampi)
• 2008: Nandi Award for Best Male Playback Singer - Venkatadri

Filmfare Awards

• 2002: Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for Dil Chahta Hai (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)
• 2003: Best Music Direction for Kal Ho Naa Ho (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)
• 2005: Best Music Direction for Bunty Aur Babli (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)

Filmfare Awards South

• 2005: Best Playback Singer for Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana-Telugu

Star Screen Awards

• 2000: Nominated for Best Background Music for Mission Kashmir (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)
• 2001: Best Music Direction for Dil Chahta Hai (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)
• 2005: Best Music Direction for Bunty aur Babli (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)
• 2009: Nominated for Best Music Direction for Rock On!! (as part of Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy)

Other awards

• 2007: Swaralaya-Kairali-Yesudas Award for outstanding contribution to Indian film music
• 2009: Asianet Film Award for Best Male Playback - "Pichavecha Naal" (Puthiya Mukham)
• 2009: Annual Malayalam Movie Awards (Dubai) for Best Male Singer - "Pichavecha Naal" (Puthiya Mukham)
• 2011: Kerala Film Critics Award for Best Male Playback Singer - "Indhumukhi Varumo" (Holidays)^[5]

Filmography[link]

As composer[link]

• Vishwaroopam (2012)
• Don 2: The King is Back (2011)
• Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011)
• Game (2011)
• De Ghuma Ke (World Cup 2011 song)
• Patiala House (2011)
• Koochie Koochie Hota Hai (2011)
• Chittagong (2010)
• Tere Bin Laden (2010)
• Housefull (2010)
• Hum Tum Aur Ghost (2010)
• Karthik Calling Karthik (2010)
• Kismat Talkies (2010)
• My Name Is Khan (2010)
• London Dreams (2009)
• Wake Up Sid (2009)
• Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam (Telugu) (2009)
• 13B/Yaavarum Nalam (2009)
• Sikandar (2009)
• Luck By Chance (2009)
• Shortkut (2009)
• Yavarum Nalam (Tamil) (2009)
• Chandni Chowk to China (2009)
• Madambi (Malayalam) (2008)
• Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic (2008)
• Rock On!! (2008)
• High School Musical 2 Soundtrack (Hindi Version)
• Taare Zameen Par (2007)
• Johnny Gaddaar (2007)
• Jhoom Barabar Jhoom (2007)
• Heyy Babyy (2007)
• Marigold: An Adventure in India (2007)
• Salaam-e-Ishq: A Tribute to Love (2007)
• Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006)
• Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna (2006)
• Dus (2005)
• Dil Jo Bhi Kahey... (2005)
• Bunty Aur Babli (2005)
• Vanity Fair (2004)
• Phir Milenge (2004)
• Lakshya (2004)
• Kyun! Ho Gaya Na... (2004)
• Rudraksh (2004)
• Kal Ho Naa Ho (2003)
• Kuch Naa Kaho (2003)
• Nayee Padosan (2003)
• Armaan (2003)
• Ek Aur Ek Gyarah (2003)
• Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai? (2002)
• Dil Chahta Hai (2001)
• Aalavandhan (2001) (Tamil)
• Mission Kashmir (2000)
• Dillagi (1999)
• Shool (1999)
• Bhopal Express (1999)
• Rockford (1999)

Discography[link]

• Breathless - Breathless is the album that first gave him fame, containing the song "Breathless", which he seems to sing in one breath.
• Nine - Nine is Shankar's most recent album. Each song is a representation of a mood, including joy, sadness, love, etc.

See also[link]

• Shankar–Ehsaan–Loy
• Shankar Mahadevan Academy

References[link]

External links[link]

• Shankar Mahadevan Official Site
• Shankar Mahadevan Official Facebook Page
• Shankar Mahadevan Official Twitter Page
• Shankar Mahadevan Academy
• Shankar Ehsaan Loy concert at Unmaad
• Shankar Mahadevan at the Internet Movie Database
• Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (official site)
• Biography
• Shankar Mahadevan talks Music, the world record and more!
• Shankar Mahadevan to rock Triveni Mahotsav ?

• Shankar loves to see audiences enjoy his music

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:
	Images and media from Commons
	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

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Udit Narayan Jha, popularly known as Udit Narayan is a playback singer in commercial, Maithili language, Hindi, Kannada, Nepali, Urdu, Bhojpuri, Garhwali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Oriya, Assamese, Maithili and Bengali language cinema. Narayan has sung in 32 different languages.^[1] He has won three National Film Awards and five Filmfare Awards. In 2009, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

Career[link]

Udit Narayan Jha was born on 1 December 1955 in a village called Bhardaha in the Saptari district, Nepal.^[2] His father was Hare Krishna Jha and his mother was Bhuwaneshwari Devi.

Narayan studied at P.B. School, Rajbiraj, where he passed his S.L.C.(class 10) and later obtained his intermediate from Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus, mostly known as RR campus Kathmandu.

Udit Narayan began his career in Nepal singing for Radio Nepal as a staff artiste for Maithili and Nepali folk songs. He sang many popular nepali folk, modern songs in Radio Nepal. His first filmy playback singing was for Nepali film Sindur.It was a comedy song for famous nepali comedians (Late) GopalRaj Mainali (Chankhe) and Basundhara Bhushal (Nakkali). It was a duet song with Sushmaa Shrestha now known as Poornima in Hindi film Industry. After eight years in that role, Indian Embassy offered him the chance to study classical music at a prestigious school in Bombay, Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan on a music scholarship. He moved to Bombay in 1978.

He got his first break in 1980, when noted music director (composer) Rajesh Roshan asked him to playback for the Hindi film Unees Bees, and was given the opportunity to sing with the veteran Mohammed Rafi. He later provided playback for a number of films, the most notable being Sannata (1981), Bade Dil Wala (1983) and Tan-Badan (1986). The actual success story of his career began in 1988 when Anand-Milind gave him the oppportunity to sing all the songs for the successful Bollywood movie Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, earning him a Filmfare Award.^[3] The film also brought actor Aamir Khan, actress Juhi Chawla and playback singer Alka Yagnik to stardom. After the success of Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, he became one of the leading playback singers in the Indian film industry.

He has worked with musicians like Rahul Dev Burman, Rajesh Roshan, Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Kalyanji-Anandji, Bappi Lahiri, A. R. Rahman, Anand-Milind, Nadeem-Shravan, Jatin Lalit, Anu Malik, Jagjit Singh, Uttam Singh, Raam Laxman, Ilayaraja, Bhupen Hazarika, Shiv-Hari, Ravindra Jain, Madan Mohan, Vishal Bhardwaj, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Himesh Reshammiya, Viju Shah, Vidyasagar, M. M. Keeravani, Ismail Darbar, Anand Raj Anand, Aadesh Shrivastava, Arun Paudwal, Pritam Chakraborty, Sajid-Wajid, Dilip Sen-Sameer Sen, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sohail Sen, Nikhil Vinay, Sandesh Shandilya, Ram Sampath, Rahul Sharma, Daboo Malik, Sukhwinder Singh, Roop Kumar Rathod, Adnan Sami, Sanjeev Darshan, Vishal-Shekhar, Ajay-Atul, and directors like Yash Chopra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Ashutosh Gowariker and Karan Johar. Some of those films include Lagaan, Darr, Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Devdas, Kal Ho Naa Ho, Swades and Veer Zaara. He has also sung hit songs for actors like Aamir Khan, Sunny Deol, Akshay Kumar, Shahid Kapoor, Mithun Chakraborty, Sunil Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Anil Kapoor, Govinda, Sanjay Dutt, Sunny Deol, Saif Ali Khan, Bobby Deol, Hrithik Roshan and Ajay Devgan. Udit's capability as a playback singer knows no bounds, as he has been magnanimously acclaimed in every kind of melody - soulful, romantic, fast-paced and recently, even pop. Udit has an extremely versatile tone which appears to flawlessly suit every Indian hero on screen. And today, innumerable awards and accolades later, Udit Narayan possesses one of the largest arrays of hit songs in the industry.

Udit Narayan has sung many songs with Lata Mangeshkar in many successful Hindi films like Darr, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Dil To Pagal Hai, Mohabbatein, Jab Pyaar Kisise Hota Hai, Hum Tum Pe Marte Hain, Veer-Zaara, Lagaan, Mujhse Dosti Karoge to name some. He has sung maximum duets with Alka Yagnik. They have sung for movies Qayamat Se Qayamat Tak, Raja, Akele Hum Akele Tum, Raja Hindustani, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham..., One 2 Ka 4, Lagaan, Tere Naam, Kyon Ki to name a few. Udit Narayan is best known for his exceptional vocal quality and his originality. His vocal quality often compared with the Bollywood veteran singers like Kishore Kumar and Mohammad Rafi. His voice never resembled any of the old singers. Many musical biggies like Lata Mangeshkar, Asha Bhosle, Pankaj Udhas and Anup Jalota believes that Udit Narayan is the best in his generation for his quality in voice and originality Udit Narayan has been hailed as the screen voice of Shahrukh Khan and has sung many songs for him in famous movies like Darr, Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Mohabbatein, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Devdas, Chalte Chalte and Swades for which he won his third National Film Award for the song "Yeh Taara Woh Taara".

At the same time, he sang in Nepalese movies, and also acted in two Nepali films Kusume Rumal and Pirati. He has worked in Nepalese films as well, in particular for composer Shambhujeet Baskota. During his early singing career, he performed songs composed by Shiva Shankar, Natikaji and Gopal Yonjan. In 2004, he released his first private Nepalese album, Upahaar, in which he also sang duets with his wife Deepa Jha. At the Hits FM Awards in 2004 he won awards in two major categories for the album, Record of the Year and Album of the Year.^{[citation needed]} Some of Narayan's other private albums are Bhajan Sangam, Bhajan Vatika, I love You, Dil Deewana, Yeh Dosti, Love is Life, Jhumka de Jhumka, Sona No Ghadulo, Dhuli Ganga, and Ma Tarini.

He was in the panel of judges of Indian Idol 3 along with music composer Anu Malik and female playback singer Alisha Chinai on Sony TV.

He was in the panel of judges on Sony TV for Waar Pariwaar, a reality show based on the bringing together of a singing gharana (family of singers). He shared judging duties with fellow playback singer Kumar Sanu and Jatin Pandit of the famous music duo Jatin-Lalit. Indian Idol 3 judge, Saregama many time special gust, X Factor, Jo Jita wo super Star special judges

Narayan has performed in many stage shows in India and abroad and is the recipient of a large number of awards. These include Screen Videocon Award, MTV Best Video Award and Pride of India Gold Award.

In 2009, Narayan was considering running as a candidate for the Padma Shri.^[2] In 2010, Udit Narayan with Madhushree sang for the English independent film "When Harry Tries to Marry"

Personal life[link]

Narayan is a resident of Mumbai.^[4] He is married and has one son. His second wife Deepa Narayan, whom he married in 1985, is a singer, and the two recorded an album together titled Dil Deewana. Their son is Aditya Narayan who is a former child actor, singer and television presenter. Aditya Narayan started his singing for child artists in Nepali film with his father before starting his singing career in Hindi movies in the 1990s and also acted in a few films.

Awards and nominations[link]

Honours[link]

• 2009: Padma Shri, India's 4th highest civilian honour.^[5]

• He has received Prabal Gorkha Dakshin Bahu,one of the highest honor given to the civilians traditionally given by the king and now by Nepalese president, by the late king Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev.

• Maharashtra Ratna Award from Government of Maharashtra in 2011

[edit] National Film Awards

National Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer

[edit] Filmfare Awards

Filmfare Best Male Playback Award

Filmfare Best Male Playback Award (Nominated):

[edit] Star Screen Awards

Star Screen Award Best Male Playback:

[edit] Zee Cine Awards

Zee Cine Award Best Playback Singer- Male:

[edit] IIFA Awards

IIFA Best Male Playback Award:

[edit] Bollywood Movie Awards

Notable Bollywood Filmography[link]