brownie Posted July 10, 2005 Report Share Posted July 10, 2005 From Reuters: RAVI SHANKAR MAY CANCEL SHOW AFTER SITARS SMASHED PARIS (Reuters) - Sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar may cancel a concert in the French city of Arles on Sunday after two of his instruments were broken en route from Lebanon to France, his family said. Shankar was flying from Beirut to the southern French city of Marseille via Paris, and continuing on to Arles, when he discovered his instruments had been seriously damaged. "I feel like I have lost two relatives," the musician said in a statement issued on Saturday by his family, who pinned the blame on French flag carrier Air France. An Air France spokesman said the airline had received a phone call on Saturday saying the instruments had been damaged inside their cases, and was waiting for the sitars to be brought to Marseille airport for inspection. "When faced with this sort of incident, the company is disposed to fulfil its responsibilities," the spokesman said. Concert organisers said they would do everything to ensure the concert could take place. The concert organisers are having replacement sitars flown in in time for the concert. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidewinder Posted July 10, 2005 Report Share Posted July 10, 2005 The curse of Chirac strikes again... Seriously though, thats a real shame I hope that good new instruments are found for Ravi for the gig. A friend of mine saw one of the recent UK performances he did along with his daughter and said it was just great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul secor Posted July 10, 2005 Report Share Posted July 10, 2005 I can't imagine the pain and distress that Ravi Shankar is feeling. When something is damaged or lost, I try to think that it's only a thing, and that things can be replaced, but I would imagine that when you're a musician, your instruments become almost a part of you. I hope that they're repaired and that he's able to play them as he did before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted July 10, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 10, 2005 Latest news is that the replacement sitars may not arrive in time for tonight's concert which looks like it is being postponed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted July 10, 2005 Report Share Posted July 10, 2005 Pity that he don't have a rich celebrety daughter to step in and make things right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed S Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 I'm guessing that you're referring to Norah Jones........right? Are you saying that Norah Jones is NOT Shankar's daughter? Because I thought I had heard or read somewhere that she was. Or maybe just that they're somehow related....something like that anyway......I'm not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rooster_Ties Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 Pity that he don't have a rich celebrety daughter to step in and make things right.← Damn it, people, it's his other daughter that probably could set things right more quickly... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted July 11, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 In the end, Ravi Shankar managed to perform at the Festival on Sunday! Full report from the Times of India today: RAVI SHANKAR'S STRINGS SNAP Rashmee Roshan Lall TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ MONDAY, JULY 11, 2005 05:31:16 PM ] LONDON: He might almost have strummed 'While my sitar gently weeps'. But broken sitars and heartbreak over the damage, could not prevent showman Ravi Shankar from bringing the sweet strains of Hindustani classical music to an ecstatic capacity 2,500-strong audience at the World Music Festival in the south of France. Shankar, India's greatest musical ambassador and the man once described by Beatle George Harrison as "the godfather of world music", managed to overcome heartbreaking damage to two of his most treasured sitars to play (on Sunday night) at the Arles festival. Eric Schirmacher of Le Suds a Arles, one of Europe's most famous music festivals in the ancient town of Arles, told TOI on the phone (on Monday) that Pandit Ravi Shankar was very upset that two of his sitars had broken en route to the Festival from Lebanon. He discovered the damage when he arrived in Arles on Friday, he said. Shankar's family blames his carrier, Air France, for the damage to the sitars by careless handling, Schirmacher said. But the 85-year-old musician, who was scheduled to open the week-long Festival with his daughter Anoushka, managed to overcome the trauma of damaged instruments and turned in a virtuoso 90-minute performance, he said. Shankar left Arles early on Monday. Shankar, who had to make do with replacement instruments specially flown in from India, described the loss of his sitars as akin to bereavement. "I feel like I have lost two relatives," he said in a somber reference to the instruments he has played for years. Earlier, said Schirmacher, a replacement sitar flown in from London was rejected by Shankar as "unusable". On Monday, relieved Festival organisers paid tribute to Shankar's determination to do the job. "This was the first time we had Ravi Shankar on the programme," said Schirmacher, "It would have been very disappointing for everyone – particularly the audience – had he not played." In a recurrent beat, Shankar is scheduled to join renowned tenor Plácido Domingo and the Senegalese singing sensation Baaba Maal later this year, in debut appearances at the the 111th season of the BBC Proms. The Arles Festival is one of only a handful of world music events around the globe, that includes Sierra Nevada and next month's Edinburgh event at which Shankar has previously played. The Arles Festival, touted as a highlight by the French Tourism Authority, is said to involve "hectic rhythms... Arles' streets echo with hot music from the South." Shankar is not the only Indian attraction of this year's Festival. Dancer Armelle Choquard, trained in Chennai, is also conducting a workshop aimed at initiating the enthusiastic uninformed in two aspects of Bharata Natyam - pure dancing (rhythm with the feet, separated and then integrated work of the different parts of the body), and narrative dance (hand movement, gesture and body movements expressing the meaning of a poem). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 <sigh of relief...> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 (edited) I told him not use gig bags, but did he listen to me? Edited July 11, 2005 by 7/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted July 11, 2005 Report Share Posted July 11, 2005 (edited) Yes, you'd think Ravi's instruments would have been in Anvil-type flight cases???!!!! Wouldn't they??? Edited July 11, 2005 by Soul Stream Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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