Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar: Oliver Craske
Pandit Ravi Shankar ji was not only a great musician but also an eclectic personality. What he accomplished in one lifetime, others may take many lifetimes to come even close to it. Oliver Craske writes an engrossing biographical account of what shaped his life and made him a tall order musician of our century. This book is a heartfelt tribute to the varied shades of his life one may otherwise never know or see.
Ravi Shankar ji was born into a Bengali family of performing artists. On the surface it is hard to decipher the source of his undying passion for music and arts. Possibly it got progressively nurtured by the fate of a series of his life events. He did not come from an affluent background but his childhood experiences gave him enough exposure in arts and spirituality. His rigorous Gurukul style musical training under Baba Allauddin also inculcated the discipline and hard work needed towards learning Hindustani Classical music. He also played an important role in setting up the cultural hubs of music and arts scene in india in post India’s independence with the likes of Mandi house, Shri Ram Kala center, Doordarshan, All India Radio, Sahitya Kala Academy, Gandharva music center, Triveni Kala Sangam and many others and left an indelible mark on each one of them. What he created was very unique, personalized and the one world had not yet seen. This freshness captured the attention of the global musical fraternity with the likes of George Harrison, Yahudi Menon and further propelled his career to greater heights.
His personal life was equally interesting. He had a series of open relationships many of which happened in parallel, had two of his daughters when he was 58 (Geetali Norah Jones) and 61 (Anousha Shankar) with women half his age while he was not even married to them and both women accepting the setup. It seemed he lived a life on steroids with some restlessness, always trying to find his home or in musical journey as they say trying to find his “Sa” - the starting and ending note of every musical composition. It was an unconventional life that didn’t follow the norms of the society but his sheer brilliance of what he created artistically justified everything in the end.
It’s impressive what certain individuals can accomplish in life and how they reach such great heights in public life. People who have philosophical and spiritual disposition and at the same time a unique artistic creative talent create something so unique and beautiful that it ends up igniting interest of many people across geographical boundaries. Pandit Ravi Shankar was gifted in that sense. He had a knack of connecting the dots better than most people and built his musical narrative that cut across multiple dimensions of his artistic and spiritual life. He remained grounded in Indian culture and in parallel built the India narrative for the global audience. Him staying rooted in his own culture and not losing his identity was a much more charming proposition for his audience who were inspired by his tall accomplishments and that inspiration became the narrative which will likely stay in the public domain for a long time, maybe spanning many centuries.
