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The mystical legend/friend to George/Papa to Nora has plucked his last sitar.

Dude was old. But damn talented!!
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Sitar legend Ravi Shankar dies at 92
By Ben Brumfield, CNN

Remembering Ravi Shankar

His music transcended trends and cultural barriers. Pandit Ravi Shankar's life, which traversed nearly a century, ended Tuesday.

The legendary sitar player, who taught Beatle George Harrison how to play the stringed instrument and brought Indian music to the West, passed away at age 92 in the early evening in San Diego, near his home, according to his wife, Sukanya, and daughter Anoushka Shankar, who were by his side.

Shankar was the father of jazz singer Norah Jones as well. He is also survived by three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, according to his record label, East Meets West Music.

His health had suffered over the past year, according to a statement from his record label, and he underwent heart valve replacement surgery last Thursday.

"Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the surgeons and doctors taking care of him, his body was not able to withstand the strain of the surgery," his wife and daughter said.

In the 1960s, he took Eastern music mainstream in the West. He lent ethereal, spiritual sounds to the Fab Four through his friendship with Harrison, who recorded them on the "Sgt. Pepper's" album in the song "Within You Without You."

Virtuoso performances at Monterey in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969 helped cement Shankar's place in Western musical history as an ambassador of Eastern wisdom to a generation looking for new values.

"Ravi was a great loss musically, spiritually and physically. God bless to Ravi's family. Peace & Love," Beatle Ringo Starr said in a statement released through a representative.

Singer Peter Gabriel hailed Shankar as an inspiration who "opened the door to non-western music for millions of people around the world."

"He was very serious about his music, and I remember at one WOMAD performance, he stopped the music to ask his audience not to point their feet at him as that was seen as offensive in India," Gabriel said in a statement. "He was also warm, witty and mischievous as a man. He will be badly missed."

Even actress Pamela Anderson weighed in tweeting one of Shankar's music videos.

In Bangladesh's bloody war of separation from Pakistan in 1971, Shankar and Harrison launched what UNICEF calls the first massive fund-raising pop event, The Concert for Bangladesh, to generate donations for the flood of refugees pouring into India.

Later, from 1986 to 1992, Shankar put his politics into practice as a member of India's upper house of parliament, the Rajya Sabha, or state assembly, serving with India's current Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

"It was difficult, often, to judge what was more remarkable -- the man or his music," Singh said of Shankar on Wednesday. He praised him as one of India's "most effective cultural ambassadors."

Both houses of parliament observed a moment of silence in his honor.

Shankar's musical career had a long life before and after the '60s. He was born on April 7, 1920, and when he and Harrison met, he was already 46 and famous in India as a classical musician, according to his record label biography.

His classical career outlived his counterculture fame, but he continued to meld East with West and composed concertos, which harmonized his sitar with orchestras. He played duos with American classical violin maestro Yehudi Menuhin and composed with American minimalist Philip Glass. He also wrote film music for the Hollywood movie "Gandhi."

Shankar kept homes in the United States and India.

Despite ill health, he shared a stage with his daughter Anoushka, also a sitar virtuoso, in early November.

It was his last public performance.

I just looked at a link about him about George Harrison being the first to start all this Aid stuff in Rock music with his concert in N.Y. back in the 70's.
R.I.P. Ravi Shankar, a very spiritual man & George's Sitar teacher.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Awkl32P2oY0

I just never got into East Indian music, now matter what kind of drugs I was on back then, but he was a hit at Monterey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk60ObnbIOk

I thought it was very ironic that he died today of all days - when there's going to be a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden featuring most of the biggest stars on the planet - considering it was he who kickstarted the very first one of it's kind at the same venue 41 years ago.

RIP Ravi. To twist his own classic quote from that memorable night in 1971, I hope you'll enjoy the main show as much as you've enjoyed the 92 years of tuning up.

Gazza wrote on Dec 12^th, 2012 at 1:36pm:

Yes, you're right Gazza, that's Karma for you.

Starbuck: Rocks Off Vice President in charge of Obituary posts.

RIP. He was pisces, like George.

In unrelated news, today is Frank Sinatra's birthday. Though I'm not particularly fond of his music, everybody knows he was an interesting character. And an Academy Award winner. And he wore a toupée.

RIP Ravi...such a talent and spirit!!

It really feels like the end of an era....a bygone era, but a most important, influential one. I have a friend who traveled to India in the '60's, at Ravi's invitation, to learn sitar---George Harrison happened to be there at the time, and he got to play with both of them. Ravi lived a long life, but....he will definitely be missed.... :'(

Saint Sway wrote on Dec 12^th, 2012 at 1:53pm:

Starbuck: Rocks Off Vice President in charge of Obituary posts.

of the seven RIP threads in the first four pages, this is the only one i started. gorda is the king of the RIP.

by the way, poindexter, van halen died in the late 80s.

go back to the chickenfoot message board!

This thread went nowhere because of the nationality of the deceased, and the awful fucking music he played. That annoying drone sound, that decades of deluded mystical geeks moofed - total turn off to any American with an actual job.

:wtf2

I'm laughing, very quietly.

sirmoonie wrote on Dec 16^th, 2012 at 1:15am:

Moonie is not a xenophobic moron; he just plays one on Rocks Off. RIP Ravi.

sirmoonie wrote on Dec 16^th, 2012 at 1:15am:

yes, but his daughter is hot, no? surely that's worth something.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inc3d2LudEA

Will some of you self-proclaimed thinkers ever grow up? Fucking Christ sometimes.

We know who the idiots are, even the idiots (e.g. Riffhard) know who they are by now. We are now held back by this very thread and the people in it. Think about it! Bitches.

Hey people, I think that sirmoonie got ( slightly) mad.

MrPleasant wrote on Dec 20^th, 2012 at 5:00am:

Hey people, I think that sirmoonie got ( slightly) mad.

You scared ? :spooky

¡¡ Feliz navidad !!! :wow

sirmoonie wrote on Dec 20^th, 2012 at 2:02am:

Please have the decency to distinguish the "self-proclaimed thinkers" from us Board-certified Thinkers.
:wtf1 :willya
Brainy

Brainbell Jangler wrote on Dec 20^th, 2012 at 6:45pm:

sirmoonie wrote on Dec 20^th, 2012 at 2:02am:

Please have the decency to distinguish the "self-proclaimed thinkers" from us Board-certified Thinkers.
:wtf1 :willya
Brainy

are you board certified? or bored certified?

sirmoonie wrote on Dec 20^th, 2012 at 2:02am:

moonpiddle, you need a good dose of religion:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HSlbuli7HM&feature=endscreen&NR=1

ROCKS OFF - The Rolling Stones Message Board
http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl GENERAL >> MAIN BOARD >> RIP Ravi Shankar http://rocksoff.org/cgi-bin/messageboard/YaBB.pl?num=1355336609 Message started by Starbuck on Dec 12^th, 2012 at 12:23pm