6 ms·

Ravi Shankar dies at 92

190 points by skadamat 14y ago

DigitalSea 14y ago
This is scary, Dave Brubeck passed away the other day and now Ravi Shankar (both pioneers in their own respectively different genres). We've lost quite a few musicians and prolific figures this year, a sign that I'm getting old myself. Living to the age of 90+ is quite an achievement in itself if you ask me.
- mmanfrin 14y ago
  I wonder who the third will be :/
- tsotha 14y ago
  Brubeck was a day from his 92nd birthday and Shankar was 92. That's a pretty good run for both.
- blario 14y ago
  It always seems to be this time of year for musicians lately. James Brown was Xmas 2006. Etta James and Johnnie Otis were January 2012...
- ppradhan 14y ago
  how can Ravi Shanker that lived in this age be a pioneer of classical indian music genre? He was a pioneer in taking the genre to the west, yes, but not a pioneer of the genre itself. Rest in Peace.
  - GiraffeNecktie 14y ago
    He was a pioneer in the sense that he extended the classical Indian music genre in many ways (i.e. through innovative compositions and film scores that added many non-traditional elements)
splicer 14y ago
Thank you for all the wonderful music. My all time favourite Ravi Shankar recording is "Raga Bhupal Todi - Tala Ardha Jaital" off of Ravi Shankar In San Francisco: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEPBFQ/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEPBFQ/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk...
hingisundhorsa 14y ago
huh, norah jones' dad. who knew?
- mertd 14y ago
  A lot of people actually.
- dguaraglia 14y ago
  I was kind of surprised when one of my friends dropped that fact the other day. I always associated Ravi with The Beatles, but I didn't know he actually fathered (in the literal sense) another excellent musician :)
  - qohen 14y ago
    Well, there was also Anoushka, his Grammy-nominated, sitar-playing daughter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoushka_Shankar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoushka_Shankar
    - dkkarthik 14y ago
      I'm sure you meant "is" :-)
- return0 14y ago
  Apparently she is bitterish about her father since he left them. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1423071/Norah-Jones-snubs-famous-father-in-Grammy-triumph.html# http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1...
  - bonobo 14y ago
    Seems like she got over it: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwDRbCiFEsPI5A0Z6JE7_gzAqzFxwBiDd http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwDRbCiFEsPI5A0Z6JE7_g... 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.
nsns 14y ago
Rest In Peace. Silver lining: perhaps Annapurna Devi will start playing publicly now.
id_ris 14y ago
RIP Ravi. he was the first Indian musician I really got into.
Kellster 14y ago
Crazy - a bunch of deadpoolers picked him: http://stiffs.com/celebrity/ravishankar/ http://stiffs.com/celebrity/ravishankar/
Xyzodiac 14y ago
That's saddening, I love Shankar's music and am always going to think of him as the greatest sitarist to ever live. RIP.
cubancigar11 14y ago
"...Shankar was born in April 7, 1920, in Benares, a northern Indian city famous for its temples to the Hindu god Vishnu..." For someone who confuses Shiva (the destroyer) with Vishnu (the maintainer), one has to wonder how much truth there actually is in that article. I for one am taking it with a grain of salt. Like most things in west that are about east, it is not the facts that are important, but how good they have dressed into what west expects them to be (as something originating from east).
diego 14y ago
Is every famous musician death going to make it to the top of Hacker News from now on?
- farslan 14y ago
  Yes, if the community around HN loves and has a certain respect to it. I'll ask myself the same question. Is every nonsense comment going to make it to the top of a topic that people care from now on?
  - diego 14y ago
    You think my question is nonsense? How would you feel if you saw a post about Erlang or Clojure on a site called "Music News?" Especially if you had been on the site for years, when it was actually about music news? FYI I play several instruments and I love(d) Ravi Shankar. However, this site is Hacker News. There is a limit.
    - kamaal 14y ago
      I think if Music Lovers some how find relevance to the way Clojure or Erlang works and have been motivated/influenced by it they definitely would discuss it. Music is a pretty popular topic among programmers. And many programmers/hackers are instrumentalists. So it makes sense for them to discuss. Besides if somebody doesn't like it he can always chose to no up vote the story and not discuss. But if somebody else wants to, why should he have any problems at all?
      - khawkins 14y ago
        This is the sort of slippery slope which deteriorated the culture of Reddit. Here's an example of the front page from 5 years ago: http://mashable.com/2012/05/10/reddit-2007/ http://mashable.com/2012/05/10/reddit-2007/ If the users don't maintain a sense of courtesy and stay on topic, the noise to signal ratio will become intolerable.
        14y ago
diego 14y ago
Is every famous musician death going to make it to the top of Hacker News from now on?
pinchyfingers 14y ago
I saw Ravi and Anoushka play together 10 years ago and it is still one of the best performances I've ever witnessed. Anoushka broke a string, which I guess takes awhile to replace on a sitar, and Ravi just started giving a lesson on percussion with out missing a beat or breaking a sweat. He started lecturing about music and having the tabla players demonstrate. I left the Kimmel Center smiling ear to ear. Sometimes talk about things like serenity and presence is shallow, because the authentic experience of spiritual depth is rare... Even in a room with 2500 people you could feel Ravi in the room and know you were in the presence of greatness. I guess that's what happens after years of dedication and spiritual discipline. I won't hope to be half the man Ravi was. I'll be lucky to have even a speck of that kind of mastery in my life. I regret not seeking him out while he was alive. It would have been incredible to hear his music live one more time and to give him a hug and thank him for his immense contribution to the world. I'm grateful that I was even in the same room as him once and I'm grateful to live in a world create beautiful music and beautiful lives.
- kamaal 14y ago
  Pandit Ravi Shankar was just one of those masters from Indian subcontinent who happened to get famous and so comes to attention. Back here in India, such people are quite common[Not to say they are all over the place, but you just don't hear about many of them]. Most of them just don't come up because of lack of encouragement, and proper ways of monetizing their art. Just to tell you. Back in the past when I was in school. We would practice for hours singing devotional songs in Carnatic music. There was once a inter school competition, where you could sing in any genre you want. Our opposition school was totally convinced our 'old music' didn't stand a chance. To add to our bad luck, they had a complete band that could play with piano, guitar and band. We had none of that. Despite that, our singing was so damn awesome- we didn't just win. But looked something like 100 times more awesome than they were. In fact when the results were announced the judges said, they hadn't heard anything like that before. Coming from average middle class background, I couldn't even convince my parents to come and watch how I sang. No photographs were taken, none of it was recorded. On top of it my parents thought singing was an utter waste of time, and If I get too much into it I wouldn't study well- And so won't be able to get a good job. I wasn't able to rekindle my passion for music until later after I started earning. There isn't a shortage of how many such competitions I participated in. You will not believe how much of such talent goes wasted here. And even talent that some how continues into a full practice never gets any attention. Artists often live in poverty, and perform for peanuts. What that basically means is even talented kids don't want to take it up as a full time profession.
forkrulassail 14y ago
He lived a full and beautiful life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi45THGJdQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi45THGJdQ

190 points by skadamat 14y ago

This is scary, Dave Brubeck passed away the other day and now Ravi Shankar (both pioneers in their own respectively different genres). We've lost quite a few musicians and prolific figures this year, a sign that I'm getting old myself. Living to the age of 90+ is quite an achievement in itself if you ask me.

mmanfrin 14y ago
I wonder who the third will be :/
tsotha 14y ago
Brubeck was a day from his 92nd birthday and Shankar was 92. That's a pretty good run for both.
blario 14y ago
It always seems to be this time of year for musicians lately. James Brown was Xmas 2006. Etta James and Johnnie Otis were January 2012...
ppradhan 14y ago
how can Ravi Shanker that lived in this age be a pioneer of classical indian music genre? He was a pioneer in taking the genre to the west, yes, but not a pioneer of the genre itself. Rest in Peace.
- GiraffeNecktie 14y ago
  He was a pioneer in the sense that he extended the classical Indian music genre in many ways (i.e. through innovative compositions and film scores that added many non-traditional elements)

splicer 14y ago

Thank you for all the wonderful music. My all time favourite Ravi Shankar recording is "Raga Bhupal Todi - Tala Ardha Jaital" off of Ravi Shankar In San Francisco: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEPBFQ/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk1 http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TEPBFQ/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk...

hingisundhorsa 14y ago

huh, norah jones' dad. who knew?

mertd 14y ago
A lot of people actually.
dguaraglia 14y ago
I was kind of surprised when one of my friends dropped that fact the other day. I always associated Ravi with The Beatles, but I didn't know he actually fathered (in the literal sense) another excellent musician :)
- qohen 14y ago
  Well, there was also Anoushka, his Grammy-nominated, sitar-playing daughter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoushka_Shankar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anoushka_Shankar
  - dkkarthik 14y ago
    I'm sure you meant "is" :-)
return0 14y ago
Apparently she is bitterish about her father since he left them. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1423071/Norah-Jones-snubs-famous-father-in-Grammy-triumph.html# http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1...
- bonobo 14y ago
  Seems like she got over it: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwDRbCiFEsPI5A0Z6JE7_gzAqzFxwBiDd http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwDRbCiFEsPI5A0Z6JE7_g... 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.

nsns 14y ago

Rest In Peace. Silver lining: perhaps Annapurna Devi will start playing publicly now.

id_ris 14y ago

RIP Ravi. he was the first Indian musician I really got into.

Kellster 14y ago

Crazy - a bunch of deadpoolers picked him: http://stiffs.com/celebrity/ravishankar/ http://stiffs.com/celebrity/ravishankar/

Xyzodiac 14y ago

That's saddening, I love Shankar's music and am always going to think of him as the greatest sitarist to ever live. RIP.

cubancigar11 14y ago

"...Shankar was born in April 7, 1920, in Benares, a northern Indian city famous for its temples to the Hindu god Vishnu..." For someone who confuses Shiva (the destroyer) with Vishnu (the maintainer), one has to wonder how much truth there actually is in that article. I for one am taking it with a grain of salt. Like most things in west that are about east, it is not the facts that are important, but how good they have dressed into what west expects them to be (as something originating from east).

diego 14y ago

Is every famous musician death going to make it to the top of Hacker News from now on?

farslan 14y ago
Yes, if the community around HN loves and has a certain respect to it. I'll ask myself the same question. Is every nonsense comment going to make it to the top of a topic that people care from now on?
- diego 14y ago
  You think my question is nonsense? How would you feel if you saw a post about Erlang or Clojure on a site called "Music News?" Especially if you had been on the site for years, when it was actually about music news? FYI I play several instruments and I love(d) Ravi Shankar. However, this site is Hacker News. There is a limit.
  - kamaal 14y ago
    I think if Music Lovers some how find relevance to the way Clojure or Erlang works and have been motivated/influenced by it they definitely would discuss it. Music is a pretty popular topic among programmers. And many programmers/hackers are instrumentalists. So it makes sense for them to discuss. Besides if somebody doesn't like it he can always chose to no up vote the story and not discuss. But if somebody else wants to, why should he have any problems at all?
    - khawkins 14y ago
      This is the sort of slippery slope which deteriorated the culture of Reddit. Here's an example of the front page from 5 years ago: http://mashable.com/2012/05/10/reddit-2007/ http://mashable.com/2012/05/10/reddit-2007/ If the users don't maintain a sense of courtesy and stay on topic, the noise to signal ratio will become intolerable.
      - 14y ago

diego 14y ago

Is every famous musician death going to make it to the top of Hacker News from now on?

pinchyfingers 14y ago

I saw Ravi and Anoushka play together 10 years ago and it is still one of the best performances I've ever witnessed. Anoushka broke a string, which I guess takes awhile to replace on a sitar, and Ravi just started giving a lesson on percussion with out missing a beat or breaking a sweat. He started lecturing about music and having the tabla players demonstrate. I left the Kimmel Center smiling ear to ear. Sometimes talk about things like serenity and presence is shallow, because the authentic experience of spiritual depth is rare... Even in a room with 2500 people you could feel Ravi in the room and know you were in the presence of greatness. I guess that's what happens after years of dedication and spiritual discipline. I won't hope to be half the man Ravi was. I'll be lucky to have even a speck of that kind of mastery in my life. I regret not seeking him out while he was alive. It would have been incredible to hear his music live one more time and to give him a hug and thank him for his immense contribution to the world. I'm grateful that I was even in the same room as him once and I'm grateful to live in a world create beautiful music and beautiful lives.

kamaal 14y ago
Pandit Ravi Shankar was just one of those masters from Indian subcontinent who happened to get famous and so comes to attention. Back here in India, such people are quite common[Not to say they are all over the place, but you just don't hear about many of them]. Most of them just don't come up because of lack of encouragement, and proper ways of monetizing their art. Just to tell you. Back in the past when I was in school. We would practice for hours singing devotional songs in Carnatic music. There was once a inter school competition, where you could sing in any genre you want. Our opposition school was totally convinced our 'old music' didn't stand a chance. To add to our bad luck, they had a complete band that could play with piano, guitar and band. We had none of that. Despite that, our singing was so damn awesome- we didn't just win. But looked something like 100 times more awesome than they were. In fact when the results were announced the judges said, they hadn't heard anything like that before. Coming from average middle class background, I couldn't even convince my parents to come and watch how I sang. No photographs were taken, none of it was recorded. On top of it my parents thought singing was an utter waste of time, and If I get too much into it I wouldn't study well- And so won't be able to get a good job. I wasn't able to rekindle my passion for music until later after I started earning. There isn't a shortage of how many such competitions I participated in. You will not believe how much of such talent goes wasted here. And even talent that some how continues into a full practice never gets any attention. Artists often live in poverty, and perform for peanuts. What that basically means is even talented kids don't want to take it up as a full time profession.

forkrulassail 14y ago

He lived a full and beautiful life. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi45THGJdQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOi45THGJdQ