News online for Encinitas, Calif.

North Coast Current

News online for Encinitas, Calif.

North Coast Current

News online for Encinitas, Calif.

North Coast Current

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Musician Ravi Shankar dies at 92

Noted musician Ravi Shankar died Dec. 11, a few days after undergoing heart-valve replacement surgery, his family and namesake foundation announced. He was 92.

Shankar had been in post-surgery recovery at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla at the time of his death, according to news reports.

An Encinitas resident, Mr. Shankar gained prominence through influencing The Beatles and band member George Harrison, among other artists, expanding the public’s appreciation of sitar music.

Ravi Shankar (ravishankar.org)
Ravi Shankar (ravishankar.org)

“It is with heavy hearts we write to inform you that Pandit Ravi Shankar, husband, father, and musical soul, passed away today,” his family said in an announcement on the musician’s website. “Although it is a time for sorrow and sadness, it is also a time for all of us to give thanks and to be grateful that we were able to have him as a part of our lives. His spirit and his legacy will live on forever in our hearts and in his music.”

Mr. Shankar was born April 7, 1920, and had homes in India and the United States, the foundation said.

“In recent months, performing, and especially touring, became increasingly difficult for the musician,” the Ravi Shankar Foundation and East Meets West Music said in a joint announcement. “However, health couldn’t prevent Shankar from performing with his daughter, sitarist Anoushka Shankar, on November 4 in Long Beach, California. This, in what was to be his final public performance, was in fact billed as a celebration of his tenth decade of creating music.”

Mr. Shankar’s daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar, are noted musicians in their own right. Mr. Shankar and Anoushka Shankar are individually nominated for Best World Music Album Grammys this year, Mr. Shankar for “The Living Room Sessions Part 1” and Anoushka Shankar for “Traveller.” Mr. Shankar and Jones are multi-Grammy Award winners. Anoushka Shankar has been previously nominated.

Mr. Shankar is survived by his wife, Sukanya; daughter Norah Jones; daughter Anoushka Shankar Wright and son-in-law Joe Wright; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, according to the foundation. He was preceded in death by his son, Shubhendra Shankar, in 1992.

Plans for a memorial are to be announced. The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Ravi Shankar Foundation through JustGive.org.

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Musician Ravi Shankar dies at 92