Amidst the nationwide lockdown, late sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar's daughter Anoushka Shankar celebrated his 100th birth anniversary on April 7 in style. Anoushka paid a virtual tribute to her father by collating a performance of his students, virtually. She shared the video in which all the musicians came together to perform from their homes.
Sharing the special tribute to her late father, she tweeted, "Today would've my father & Guru Ravi Shankar's 100th BIRTHDAY!!! To celebrate, I’ve asked many of his students to help me record something to share with you today. This is my father’s piece 'Sandhya Raga.'"
Key Takeaways:
- Anoushka Shankar paid a special virtual tribute to her father, sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, on his 100th birth anniversary.
- It was a performance by his disciples who performed from their respective homes.
- Pandit Ravi Shankar was honoured with the highest civilian award of India, Bharat Ratna, in the year 1999.
The family was planning a centenary tour, which got postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic so Anoushka and her mom Sukanya decided upon this virtual tribute. The music legend was to be commemorated with a series of Ravi Shankar Centennial Concerts in May at San Diego.
The music video includes his disciples, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (Mohan veena), Shubhendra Rao (sitar), Gaurav Mazumdar (sitar), Aditya Verma (sarod), Ravichandra Kulur (flute), Barry Phillips (cello), Ashwani Shankar (shehnai), Bickram Ghosh (tabla), B.C. Manjunath (mridangam) aside of Anoushka performing Sandhya Raga by Ravi Shankar.
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"We were meant to have celebrated with a massive gala performance, but since that can't happen, we're inviting you to join us at home instead. Sending you love and light in these trying times," said Anoushka, who is also a composer and producer, through an Instagram post.
Sukanya added to the post, "My husband's music continues to bring magic to people around the globe. As the whole world faces these challenging times, it''s more important than ever to celebrate our common humanity with art that transcends boundaries. I'm thrilled that the Southbank Centre will be celebrating his legacy online and throughout the year as part of Shankar 100. While I'm saddened the Ravi Shankar Centenary concert has been postponed, I look forward to next spring, when we can all come together for this very special event."
Legendary Sitar-player - Pandit Ravi Shankar
Pandit Ravi Shankar the well known Sitar maestro and a composer of Hindustani classical music was honoured with the highest civilian award of India, Bharat Ratna, in the year 1999.
Talking about carrying his legacy, Anoushka had earlier said, "I didn't just learn from my father, I toured with him, I played with him."
On choosing her path she explained, "So when I started writing myself, it was like a very conscious decision to kind of to want to find out who I was when I wrote music."
"I guess I was a real perfectionist because of his training and the standard of his playing. It can really stop you from trying and taking risks. So that was something that I really had to keep working to overcome. I think the beautiful thing about inspiration is that when we show up things come so I'll sit to play and I trust that something will come out," an inspired Anoushka said.
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Feature Image Credit: TOI
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