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Ravi Shankar music biography continued...

7, 1920. He first performed publicly in India in 1939, and after completing his musical education under master teachers of Hindustani classical music, he began to compose film and ballet scores. Work for All India Radio followed; as music director from February 1949 to January 1956 in New Delhi. At about the same time his international fame was on the rise. In 1954, he performed in the Soviet Union. In 1956, he played his debut solo concerts in Western Europe and the U.S. Having given major classical concerts all over the world, Shankar became a pop culture fixture, performing at venues that were unusual for a classical musician, such as the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival in Monterey. He was also one of the artists who performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969. Throughout the decade, Shankar grew still more famous for his influence on The Beatles, who used a sitar in some of their more psychedelic tunes. With George Harrison was one of the organizers of The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, an attempt to raise awareness of the growing crisis in East Pakistan. At the same time, Shankar kept his hand in classical music, penning two concertos for sitar and orchestra, as well as several violin-sitar compositions. By the end of the 70's Shankar had become the most popular Indian musician in the world, and as he continued to record, perform and teach in a wide variety of musical styles, he arguably became the most well-known Indian on the planet.



As years passed Shankar became known less as a performer and more as an elder statesman of world music. In 2000 he was given the French Legion of Honor, and in 2001 he was awarded an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II. He has received many awards and honors from his own country and from all over the world, including three Grammys, an Academy Award nomination with George Fenton for Best Original Score to Gandhi (1982) and the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor (1999). Ravi Shankar's life has been testimony to the idea that music has the power to bridge all cultural boundaries, and bring fans of diverse persuasions together in appreciation and awe.