Chance hearing of Nambide Ninna Naada Devatheye by Bhmisen Joshi in G.V. In my family it was scoffed at as the Negadi Sangeetha (as if the singer has caught a cold). Ustadji is the recipient of many awards and honours - the Padmashree in 1975, the Sangeet Natak Academy award in1989, the Tansen Award in 1989, the Padma Bhushan in 1991 and the International Music Forum Award, Unesco in 1970, to name a few.Ĭoming from the south of the country it was never going to be easy for me to start listening to Hindustani Music. In 1977, he founded the Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan Memorial Society which organises concerts and also has an annual Hafiz Ali Khan award bestowed on outstanding classical musicians in India and aboard. He is devoted to the cause of popularising Indian classical music through his performances over the AIR and T.V. Ustadji has widely travelled and has played in China, the UK, the USA, Moscow, Germany and Japan. He represents the sixth generation of his family to inherit a classical tradition that goes back through his father, the late Ustad Hafiz Ali Khan to the era of the court musicians of the Mughal Empire and the original 'Senia-Beenkar' Gharana musical 'school' devoted to the tradition of the legendary Mian Tansen, Ustadji learnt the Sarod from his father.īy visiting Pakistan in 1981, he was the first Indian musician to break the culture silence between the two countries. Born in 1945 in Gwalior, where his father was a musician to the royal family, he made an early debut giving his first solo recital at the age of 12 in 1958. Ustad Amjad Ali Khan is acknowledged throughout India as one of its foremost classical musicians and the maestro of his chosen instrument, the Sarod.
He is also working on completing the Ravi Shankar Institute for Music and Performing Arts, Delhi, in which he imparts his knowledge to students Even at the age of 85, Pt Ravi Shankar, is still active in music. Having spent decades in the US, he is now back in India and lives in Delhi. Ravi Shankar has a galaxy of disciples like Manilal Nag, Vijay Raghav Rao, Vishwamohan Bhatt, Tarun Bhattacharya, Lakshmi Shankar, Ronu Majumdar, Partho Sarothy and Shubhendra Rao among others. His other daughter is the jazz-pop singer and receiver of several 2003 Grammy awards, Norah Jones. Ravi Shankar's daughter from his second wife, Anoushka Shankar is his disciple as well and a raising Sitar star. Ravi Shankar's first wife and daughter of his guru is the reclusive sitar exponent Annapoorna Devi. He then successfully collaborated with many western musicians including George Harrison of Beatles fame, Yehudi Menuhin and Philip Glasse.Īpart from concerts, he has conducted orchestras and scored music for many films including Sathyajit Ray's Pather Panchali. He collaborated with Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and Ustad Alla Rakha to introduce Indian music to the west in the 60's. He toured with his brother, Uday Shankar's dance troupe for many years. of India in 1999.īorn into a rich family on 7th April, 1920, he was tutored by Baba Allaudin Khan, the founder of what has come to be known now as the Maihar Gharana. He was awarded the Bharath Rathna, the highest civilian honour in India, by the govt. He has been the cultural Ambassador of India for a number of decades now. Bharath Rathna Pt Ravi Shankar is perhaps the most well known Indian Musician outside India.