Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Ravi Shankar 1920-2012

can't believe so recently, 92 year olds Dave Brubeck, and now Ravi Shankar. The same age, and both legends in their genre. RIP #RaviShankar

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2012/12/11/avi-shankar-dies/1762831/





I can't lie in that I have known about his legend for many years, and have listened to some of his music, sparingly, but NOT NEARLY AS MUCH AS I SHOULD.

I even purchased, for like $1, his Live at Monterey International Pop Festival record on Vinyl. According to my friend John, he more or less was the best performer at Monterrey in '67, besides Hendrix.
But since I don't own a turn table yet, I can't play the record yet.

And of course he toured frequently, and eventually retired, but then came back, maybe more than once according to my friend.

Damn, Brubeck, Ray Charles, and many other legends who peaked long before my time, but still were around and played my hometown, and I never saw them :(.

His daughters are still around of course, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar. Although from my friend's accounts, when Anoushka would play with Ravi, the shows would always dropoff when Ravi wasn't playing.

O well, he did live a full life. RIP and Godspeed Ravi. There likely won't ever be a sitarist like you again.