December 13, 2012

Posthumous Grammy Award for Ravi Shankar (AWESOME!)

Posthumous lifetime achievement Grammy award for Ravi Shankar
Three-time Grammy winner Shankar, who died on Tuesday in California, is among seven artists including Carole King and the Temptations named as Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award honorees.

"He was selected before his death and notified last week he was receiving the honor," a Grammys spokeswoman, Stephanie Schell, told AFP when asked if Shankar was added to the list after his death.

"As one of the world's most renowned sitar players, (Shankar) is a true ambassador for international music," the Recording Academy said in its brief biography of the Indian musician, alongside those of the other honorees.

Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar has given Indian culture of one of the best gifts. The renowned musician even became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after he introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career.

"As a performer, composer, teacher and writer, he is considered a pioneer in bringing Indian music to the West," it added.

Shankar died on Tuesday in southern California at the age of 92, after failing to recover from surgery at a hospital in La Jolla, near San Diego last week. His family was at his bedside.

The sitar pioneer taught his close friend George Harrison, the late Beatle, to play the instrument and collaborated with him on several projects, including the ground-breaking Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.

Harrison called Shankar "The Godfather of World Music", and Yehudi Menuhin, widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, compared him to Mozart.

The other Grammy lifetime award recipients are "You've Got a Friend" singer King, classical pianist Glenn Gould, jazz musician Charlie Haden, blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins, Motown greats the Temptations and Patti Page, famous for "(How Much Is That) Doggie In The Window."

The 55th annual Grammy Awards show will be held in Los Angeles on February 10, 2013.

- AFP (Excerpt)
  Los Angeles, December 13, 2012
  First Published: 08:06 IST(13/12/2012)



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