Ravi Shankar passes.

Ravi was my first exposure to international music. He was truly a ground breaker. My condolences to his beautiful daughter Norah.

Indian classical music is great stuff, and Ravi Shankar opened the door (for me anyway) not only to other sitar musicians (Vlayt Khan is very good also) but also to Iranian, Chinese, and other international music. A lot of it reminds me of meditation or prayer, with vocal improvisation as well as a huge variety of non-western instruments. But Ravi certainly deserves a lot of credit for exposing Indian Music to young people as well as classcially trained masters such as Yehudi Medhuin (sp?). Funny too how good the sitar sounds once you've heard it played a few times.

It is Vilayat Khan (you dropped an i and a). The greatest of all was Ali Akbar Khan (Sarod) whose sister Annapurna Devi was married to Ravi Shankar and studied together under her father great Alauddin Khan. Annapurna Devi was perhaps even more talented than Ravi Shankar. To avoid comparison with her husband she chose Surbahar (bass Sitar). She is perhaps the greatest living teacher of Indian Classical music. Her pupils include mentioned Pandit Nikhil Banerjee and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia between many others.

If you like Vilayat Khan try to find record "Duets". He plays with Bismillah Khan - master of the Shehnai.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NyK4Bvj07JY

Ravi Shankar was a great global ambassador of Indian Classical music. I attended his November 16 1985 concert in Chicago (he played with great tablist Alla Rakha).

Thanks to all sharing information on various artists. Kijanki, it's funny you mention Ustad Ali Akbar Kahn. A few year ago my wife brought home volume 3 of the Ammp signature series. I was floored the first time we played it. I'm not kidding when I say it takes me to a different place when I hear it. I would suggest it to any Ravi fans.

I had a coworker mention Sultan Khan today. Have you ever heard him? I don't believe he plays sitar but another instrument of which sound I'm familiar with but the name of that instrument escapes me. Thanks again.

Back in 2005 or 6, the wife and I got two, free, last minute tickets to Ravi Shankar's concert in Portland. His daughter Anoushka was with him. Though we had a couple of cds, we weren't exactly fans--we hadn't even thought about going to the concert.

Then the tickets fell in our lap, we went, and were simply overwhelmed. It remains one of the two or three finest musical experiences I've had. And since this is Audiogon, I'll add this: while I rarely think live performances match the sound that's possible on recordings and a good stereo system, this was a striking exception. The tabla in particular seems to escape reproduction.