Ravi Shankar
Tuesday, April 17, Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
Ravi Shankar's career has gone tabloid.
The 87-year old sitar player and classical music composer from India became a symbol of cultural enlightenment for the hippie generation in the 1960s. He mentored George Harrison. He performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, at Woodstock in 1969 and at the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.
His current association with Western pop is not nearly so lofty. He's the father of Norah Jones, the 28-year old American musician best known for her hit single 'Don't Know Why.' Shankar fathered Jones on the eve of turning 60, the result of an extramarital affair with an American concert promoter, Sue Jones.
Three years later, Shankar fathered another daughter from an extramarital affair with a different woman. That daughter, Anoushka Shankar, 25, will be performing with Ravi at Tuesday's show.
The twists and turns of Shankar's love life haven't always been so prominent.
He is India's most famous musical ambassador to the West. His breathtaking sitar performances and his productivity as a composer continue to make him one of the most honored musicians in the world. Some have called him a modern Mozart.
George Harrison traveled to India in 1965 to meet Shankar. Type in 'Ravi Shankar' on YouTube and you'll find a grainy clip of Harrison sitting in a field with Shankar in 1965. Harrison awkwardly picks at the sitar while Shankar gently instructs him.
When 60 Minutes profiled Norah Jones, Katie Couric asked about her relationship with her father. Jones, who was born Geethali Jones Shankar, didn't see Ravi between the ages of 9 and 18.
Shankar addressed his infidelities in his 1997 autobiography, Raga Mala:
'I felt I could be in love with different women in different places. It was like having a girl in every port, and sometimes there was more than one.'
Ravi Shankar may be a musical legend, but that never stopped inquiring minds from wanting to know.
