Ravi Shankar Remembered With Tributes Online

Tributes poured in Monday for Ravi Shankar, the sitar virtuoso and leading influence on The Beatles, who died in San Diego Tuesday at the age of 92.

One of his daughters, five-time Grammy winning singer Norah Jones, said her father's music touched millions of people.

"He will be greatly missed by me and music lovers everywhere," she said in a brief statement.

On her Facebook page, she posted two videos of her father's performances.

"Here are some great clips of my dad playing the sitar for anyone who never saw him perform live. He's 51 in the first clip and 92 in the second clip, and an inspiration in both. I love you and miss you, Pops," she wrote of her dad, who was 59 when she was born.

Shankar, a longtime resident of Encinitas and lecturer at UC San Diego, underwent surgery to replace a heart valve at Scripps Mercy Hospital last Thursday, following about a year of suffering from heart and upper respiratory problems, according to his publicist.

The statement said his wife of 23 years, Sukanya, was by his side when he died, along with another  daughter, Anoushka Shankar, a sitar musician who was recently nominated for a Grammy Award.

He also taught the 19-string instrument to guitarist John McLaughlin and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane.

Ringo Starr, one of two surviving members members of The Beatles, said Shankar's death was a great loss "musically, spiritually and physically."

The late Beatle George Harrison said in a 1992 Billboard interview that he picked up a sitar while making the movie "Help!" and heard several people in subsequent months mention Shankar's name.

Shankar taught him how to play the instrument, which was used in "Within You Without You" on the 1967 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album.

Harrison said he previously used the difficult-to-play instrument on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," from "Rubber Soul." It was one of the first times the sitar had been used in a Western pop recording.

Shankar also worked with Harrison in 1971 on the groundbreaking "Concert for Bangladesh" shows in New York City that also featured Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. The two concerts raised funds for refugees from Pakistan's bloody war of separation and resulted in a popular album and film.

Shankar also performed at two of rock music's most famous concerts -- Woodstock and the Monterey Pop Festival.

Harrison produced and participated in two albums with Shankar, "Shankar Family & Friends" and Festival of India," and called Shankar "the godfather of world music."

Singer-songwriter Christina Perri touched on the collaboration between Shankar and Harrison in a Twitter post reading: "rest in peace sweet ravi shankar. i hope you're making music again with george."

k.d. lang tweeted, "Ravi Shankar....May you have a swift and positive rebirth. Thanks for being a musical ambassador."

Shankar authored violin-sitar compositions for the late Yehudi Menuhin and himself, music for flute virtuoso Jean Pierre Rampal and collaborated with composer Phillip Glass.

He also composed for movies and ballets.

"His genius and his humanity can only be compared to that of Mozart's," Menuhin once said.

Shankar gave his final concert Nov. 4 at the Terrace Theater in Long Beach.

In addition to his wife and daughters, he is survived by three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Plans for a memorial service are pending. The family ha srequested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Ravi Shankar Foundation at JustGive.org.

—City News Service

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