RIP Ravi Shankar

[colinmce]

Aged 92. Such an interesting figure and musician whose influence on British and American music was immeasurable.

[Noj]

My friend was Ravi's assistant in San Diego for a while, and her son plays drums for Anoushka. I'm told the whole family is very nice. RIP.

[ValerieB]

aw, i'm sad to hear this but i trust he had a very full life and certainly shared it with us. R.I.P., Ravi Shankar.

[Joe]

Glad I got to see him perform (once). May his spirit be at rest.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Joe

[mjzee]

A historic figure, and he made some damn fine music too. RIP.

[sidewinder]

That news is a bit of a shock this morning. A great artist - RIP.

We have lost way too many of these great names this year.

[brownie]

A great musician!

Hope he died peacefully...

Ravi Shankar during a concert last February. (AP Photo)

[B. Goren.]

Sad news to start the day with.

[clifford_thornton]

Whoa.

RIP to another great.

[romualdo]

A long rewarding life & a great musical ambassador

"East meets West"

[Hardbopjazz]

Wow, sad to see this post. RIP.

[BillF]

Saw him blow at the Free Trade Hall round about 1970.

[Stereojack]

A magnificent musician. I got to see him perform only once, 15-20 years ago. Very special!

[mikeweil]

I have a hard time to find appropriate words on this occasion. His albums and a book he wrote, along with a fascinating four hour concert of an all-star ensemble he had taken on tour, were my introduction to Indian music, and will always remain my reference point for this.

A million thanks for fascinating music, an inspired as well as inspiring life and a never ending dedication to the music and culture of his people - a spirit of true tolerance has left us. He was an ambassador to the music just like Brubeck.

R.I.P.

[Teasing the Korean]

I love his three "East Meets West" albums with Yehudi Menuhin. RIP.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I wish I got a chance to see him live before this but he'll live on in my music collection. I am listening to a beautiful raga right now ("Homage to Mahatma Ghandi").

[Stefan Wood]

Gotts crack open the EMI box set of his work. RIP to a fantastic musician.

[jazzbo]

RIP Ravi. Ravi is one of the few famous people I have met personally. He was the cousin of my roommate at boarding school Faizullah Guhr, and we met when he came to visit our school, Waterford-Kamhlaba in M'Babane, Swaziland.

[JSngry]

Besides his importance as an artist in and ambassador of his own music, this is a man who changed everything in jazz and rock, if not necessarily directly, then by creating a new awareness and curiosity that re-framed the concept of "new" and "possibilities" in such a way things could never be put back exactly the way they were before.

RIP.

[skeith]

the loss of a true giant and who opened up the world of Indian music to us.

[JohnT]

RIP. I saw him as the opening act for George Harrison in 1974. What a great concert!! Really opened my ears to other cultures music!!

[JSngry]

Can anybody familiar with the whole Bollywood scene comment about if maybe there "cross-cultural" exchange between Indian Classical Music and American Popular Musics maybe went both ways - i.e. - did Indian Popular Music begin to take a different direction at some point due to Western influences that might not have been there before Shankar? In other words, when The West began looking in to India for inspiration, did India begin to look back in the same way? Or would all that have happened anyway..or was it already happening?

[CJ Shearn]

A big loss. RIP

[mikeweil]

There is a considerable number of middle and upper class people in India (and those who migrated to places all over the planet) who are much more oriented towards western culture - mostly educated in England, and they respect traditional Indian culture but do not have such a deep knowledge as one would suspect. These people would have made the fusion with Western influences, anyway.

[Quincy]

Gotts crack open the EMI box set of his work. RIP to a fantastic musician.

It's excellent! Right now the 10 disc set is cheaper at Amazon UK than US.