The Death Of Ravi Shankar

I found out yesterday that the great Indian musician, Ravi Shankar, had passed away. He was in his early 90’s and considered by most as the world’s greatest master of the sitar. He was certainly the best known sitar player in the world. Ravi Shankar combined two of my greatest loves. He merged music with spirituality. He performed at the first great rock festival called the Monterey Pop Festival where he totally wowed all the blissed out hippies. He also played at the original Woodstock. In the late sixties he became friends with the Beatles and soon became a spiritual and musical guru to George Harrison. By the time of his death in 2001, Harrison had become a Hindu like Shankar. You can hear Ravi Shankar’s musical influence on the Beatle albums called “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver”. It was at the request of Ravi Shankar that George Harrison organized the first rock and roll benefit concert in 1971 called “The Concert for Bangladesh”. Every time a musician dies, I am sad. Too many have passed away in my lifetime. Fortunately I saw most of them before they left the planet. Unfortunately, I never saw Ravi Shankar. Music is one of life’s greatest gifts and musicians are my favorite artists. Imagine your life without music. Music has been a great friend and a great comfort to me in my life. When I am happy, it makes me happier. When I am sad, it consoles me. Thank you, Ravi, for enriching my life.