
Ravi Shankar dies at 92 - skadamat
http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/ravi-shankar-sitar-virtuoso-who-brought-indian-music-to-west-mentored-beatles-dies-at-92/2012/12/11/a05f1b48-4415-11e2-8c8f-fbebf7ccab4e_story.html
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pinchyfingers
I saw Ravi and Anoushka play together 10 years ago and it is still one of the
best performances I've ever witnessed. Anoushka broke a string, which I guess
takes awhile to replace on a sitar, and Ravi just started giving a lesson on
percussion with out missing a beat or breaking a sweat. He started lecturing
about music and having the tabla players demonstrate. I left the Kimmel Center
smiling ear to ear.

Sometimes talk about things like serenity and presence is shallow, because the
authentic experience of spiritual depth is rare... Even in a room with 2500
people you could feel Ravi in the room and know you were in the presence of
greatness. I guess that's what happens after years of dedication and spiritual
discipline.

I won't hope to be half the man Ravi was. I'll be lucky to have even a speck
of that kind of mastery in my life. I regret not seeking him out while he was
alive. It would have been incredible to hear his music live one more time and
to give him a hug and thank him for his immense contribution to the world. I'm
grateful that I was even in the same room as him once and I'm grateful to live
in a world create beautiful music and beautiful lives.

~~~
kamaal
Pandit Ravi Shankar was just one of those masters from Indian subcontinent who
happened to get famous and so comes to attention.

Back here in India, such people are quite common[Not to say they are all over
the place, but you just don't hear about many of them]. Most of them just
don't come up because of lack of encouragement, and proper ways of monetizing
their art.

Just to tell you. Back in the past when I was in school. We would practice for
hours singing devotional songs in Carnatic music. There was once a inter
school competition, where you could sing in any genre you want. Our opposition
school was totally convinced our 'old music' didn't stand a chance. To add to
our bad luck, they had a complete band that could play with piano, guitar and
band. We had none of that. Despite that, our singing was so damn awesome- we
didn't just win. But looked something like 100 times more awesome than they
were. In fact when the results were announced the judges said, they hadn't
heard anything like that before. Coming from average middle class background,
I couldn't even convince my parents to come and watch how I sang. No
photographs were taken, none of it was recorded. On top of it my parents
thought singing was an utter waste of time, and If I get too much into it I
wouldn't study well- And so won't be able to get a good job. I wasn't able to
rekindle my passion for music until later after I started earning.

There isn't a shortage of how many such competitions I participated in.

You will not believe how much of such talent goes wasted here. And even talent
that some how continues into a full practice never gets any attention. Artists
often live in poverty, and perform for peanuts. What that basically means is
even talented kids don't want to take it up as a full time profession.

~~~
pessimist
I think this is exaggerated on many levels.

1\. There are dozens of famous and wealthy Indian classical musicians -
Hariprasad Chaurasia, Zakir Hussain, Amjad Ali Khan, etc. There are hundreds
if not thousands of lesser known musicians who make a living by teaching and
performing in small venues.

2\. Of course, many talented people are prevented by social custom or poverty
from following their dream, but its simply not the case that there are
hundreds of unrecognized geniuses walking around.

3\. Ravi Shankar's success was not totally accidental - he didn't just
"happen" to become popular. He was a great communicator, and he appropriately
structured his music to be not too complex for beginners and westerners to
understand. If you listed to his rivals like Ustad Vilayat Khan for example,
they went the opposite way and added layers of complexity and did not achieve
popularity among the masses.

~~~
kamaal
I never said Ravi Shankar was 'just' lucky, did I?

But frankly this is survivor ship bias at its very best. Looking at it from my
very own parents stand point. What are the odds that somebody like me was
going to be the next Zakir Hussain[Who himself happens to be the son of a very
famous Tabla player]?

So there you see the problem. If there isn't a way to make good money doing
music. People are not going to be taking it up as a full time profession.

------
DigitalSea
This is scary, Dave Brubeck passed away the other day and now Ravi Shankar
(both pioneers in their own respectively different genres). We've lost quite a
few musicians and prolific figures this year, a sign that I'm getting old
myself. Living to the age of 90+ is quite an achievement in itself if you ask
me.

~~~
ppradhan
how can Ravi Shanker that lived in this age be a pioneer of classical indian
music genre? He was a pioneer in taking the genre to the west, yes, but not a
pioneer of the genre itself. Rest in Peace.

~~~
GiraffeNecktie
He was a pioneer in the sense that he extended the classical Indian music
genre in many ways (i.e. through innovative compositions and film scores that
added many non-traditional elements)

------
cubancigar11
"...Shankar was born in April 7, 1920, in Benares, a northern Indian city
famous for its temples to the Hindu god Vishnu..."

For someone who confuses Shiva (the destroyer) with Vishnu (the maintainer),
one has to wonder how much truth there actually is in that article.

I for one am taking it with a grain of salt. Like most things in west that are
about east, it is not the facts that are important, but how good they have
dressed into what west expects them to be (as something originating from
east).

------
diego
Is every famous musician death going to make it to the top of Hacker News from
now on?

~~~
nicholassmith
If you don't think a post should be on HN, hit the flag button and a mod will
look at it. HN is as good as you want it to be after all.

~~~
rms
I already flagged the parent comment, as the typical Hacker News complaining
is inappropriate for an obituary thread.

~~~
nicholassmith
I agree, there's often a time and a place for it.

------
splicer
Thank you for all the wonderful music.

My all time favourite Ravi Shankar recording is "Raga Bhupal Todi - Tala Ardha
Jaital" off of Ravi Shankar In San Francisco:
[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEPBFQ/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk...](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEPBFQ/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk1)

------
hingisundhorsa
huh, norah jones' dad. who knew?

~~~
return0
Apparently she is bitterish about her father since he left them.

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1423071/Norah-
Jones-snubs-famous-father-in-Grammy-triumph.html#)

~~~
bonobo
Seems like she got over it:
[http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwDRbCiFEsPI5A0Z6JE7_g...](http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwDRbCiFEsPI5A0Z6JE7_gzAqzFxwBiDd)

 _Here are some great clips of my Dad playing the Sitar for anyone who never
saw him perform live.

He's 51 in the first clip and 92 in the second clip and an inspiration in
both. I love you and miss you, Pops._

------
nsns
Rest In Peace. Silver lining: perhaps Annapurna Devi will start playing
publicly now.

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id_ris
RIP Ravi. he was the first Indian musician I really got into.

------
forkrulassail
He lived a full and beautiful life.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi45THGJdQ>

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Xyzodiac
That's saddening, I love Shankar's music and am always going to think of him
as the greatest sitarist to ever live. RIP.

------
Kellster
Crazy - a bunch of deadpoolers picked him:
<http://stiffs.com/celebrity/ravishankar/>

