Ravi Shankar `` Ravi Shankar '' redirects here . For other uses , see Ravi Shankar ( disambiguation ) . Ravi Shankar Ravi Shankar ( Bengali : রবি শঙ্কর Robi Shôngkor , Hindi : रवि शंकर ) ( born April 7 1920 in Varanasi , Uttar Pradesh , India ) is a Bengali - Indian composer best known for his virtuosity on the sitar . A disciple of Allauddin Khan ( founder of the Maihar gharana of Indian classical music ) , Pandit Ravi Shankar is arguably the best-known Indian instrumentalist , and is well known for his pioneering work in bringing the power and appeal of the Indian classical music tradition , as well as Indian music and its performers in general , to the West . This was done through his association with The Beatles ( especially George Harrison ) as well as with his own personal charisma . His musical career spans over six decades and Shankar currently holds the Guinness Record for the longest international career . Early life Ravindra ( Ravi ) Shankar was born into a Bengali brahmin family , whose ancestral home was the present day Kalia Upozila in Narail District , Jessore , Bangladesh . His father , Shyam Shankar , an eminent barrister , travelled widely . His mother 's name was Hemanginee , and his elder brother Uday Shankar was a famous Indian classical dancer . In 1930 , at the age of 10 , Ravi Shankar moved to Paris with his mother and brothers Davendra and Rajendra to join his father and elder brother . As a teenager Ravi played sitar with Uday Shankar 's dance troupe , most notably with Anna Pavlova in the Soviet Union . Musical career Ravi Shankar gave up a possible dance career , and starting in 1938 he spent long years of dedicated study under his guru Allaudin Khan . His first public performances in India came in 1939 . Formal training ended in 1944 and he worked out of Bombay . He began writing scores for film and ballet and started a recording career with HMV 's Indian affiliate . He became music director of All India Radio in the 1950s . Ravi Shankar then became well known to the music world outside India , first performing in the Soviet Union in 1954 and then the West in 1956 . He performed in major events such as the Edinburgh Festival as well as major venues such as Royal Festival Hall . George Harrison , a member of The Beatles , began experimenting with the sitar in 1965 . The two eventually met due to this common interest and became close friends , and that in turn expanded Shankar 's fame as a pop star and as Harrison 's mentor . This development greatly expanded his career . He was invited to play venues that were unusual for a classical musician , such as the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival in Monterey , California , with Ustad Allah Rakha on tabla . He was also one of the artists who performed at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 , and with Harrison was one of the organizers of The Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 , in an attempt to raise awareness of the genocide that was occurring in the region of Bengal where Shankar 's familiy origins l ay . Ravi Shankar & Friends was also the opening act for Harrison 's 1974 tour of the United States . Ravi Shankar has been critical of some facets of the Western reception of Indian music . On a trip to San Francisco 's Haight-Ashbury district after performing in Monterey , Shankar wrote `` I felt offended and shocked to see India being regarded so superficially and its great culture being exploited . Yoga , Tantra , mantra , kundalini , ganja , hashish , Kama Sutra ? They all became part of a cocktail that everyone seemed to be lapping up ! `` In 1969 he published an English language autobiography , My Music , My Life . Ravi Shankar has written two concertos for sitar and orchestra , violin-sitar compositions for Yehudi Menuhin and himself , music for flute virtuoso Jean Pierre Rampal , and music for Hozan Yamamoto , master of the shakuhachi ( Japanese flute ) , and koto virtuoso Musumi Miyashita . He has composed extensively for films and ballets in India , Canada , Europe , and the United States , including Chappaqua , Charly , Gandhi ( for which he was nominated for an Academy Award ) , and the Apu Trilogy . His recording Tana Mana , released on the Private Music label in 1987 , penetrated the New Age genre with its unique combination of traditional instruments with electronics . The classical composer Philip Glass acknowledges Shankar as a major influence , and the two collaborated to produce Passages , a recording of compositions in which each reworks themes composed by the other . Shankar also composed the sitar part in Glass 's 2004 composition Orion . Family life When Ravi Shankar was 21 , he married 14-year-old Annapurna Devi , daughter of his guru Baba Allauddin Khan and sister of Ali Akbar Khan in Almora . The marriage produced one son , Shubhendra Shankar , but ended in divorce . He became involved with American concert promoter Sue Jones but they did not marry . Their union , however , produced one daughter , recording artist Norah Jones . He later married an admirer , Sukanya Rajan , with whom he had had a second daughter named Anoushka . Anoushka is a sitarist and performs frequently with her father , in addition to having her own recording career . Jones has achieved massive professional success , including winning several Grammy Awards , and selling 20 million albums . Shankar is also the uncle of the late sitarist Ananda Shankar . Ravi Shankar has homes in both Encinitas , California and New Delhi , India . Honours Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a member of the United Nations International Rostrum of Composers . He has received many awards and honours from his own country and from all over the world , including fourteen honorary doctorates , the Padma Vibhushan , Desikottam , the Magsaysay Award from Manila , three Grammy Awards , the Fukuoka Grand Prize from Japan , and the Crystal Award from Davos , with the title `` Global Ambassador '' , to name but some . In 1986 he was nominated to be a member of the Rajya Sabha , India 's upper house of Parliament , for six years . In 2002 , he was conferred the inaugural Indian Chamber of Commerce Lifetime Achievement Award . The Bharat Ratna , India 's highest civilian honour , was awarded to him in 1999 . In 1998 he was awarded the Polar Music Prize with Ray Charles . Films Music Direction Apu Trilogy . Directed by Satyajit Ray Raga ( 1971 ) . Directed by Howard Worth . The Concert for Bangladesh ( 1972 ) . Music Gandhi . Directed by Richard Attenborough ( Academy Award nomination for Shankar ) . Concert for George ( 2003 ) . `` Forbidden Image '' . Directed by Jeremy Marre Bibliography Rag Mala ( 1997 ) ( Autobiography edited by George Harrison ) Learning Indian music : A systematic approach ( 1979 ) My Music , My Life ( 1968 ) ( Autobiography ) Music memory ( 1967 ) External links Ravi Shankar Official Website His autobiography - My Music , My Life Audio excerpts from a 2000 interview for the BBC Ravi Shankar Interview Stream and 2005 interview for his 85th birthday EMI Biography Guinness Record for longest International Career Sestina by Shankar Persondata NAME Shankar , Ravi ALTERNATIVE NAMES রবি শঙ্কর ( Bengali ) ; Shôngkor , Robi ( Bengali transliteration ) SHORT DESCRIPTION Musician DATE OF BIRTH April 7 1920 PLACE OF BIRTH Varanasi , Uttar Pradesh , India DATE OF DEATH living PLACE OF DEATH Categories : 1920 births | Apple Records artists | Bengali musicians | Bharat Ratna recipients | Hindustani instrumentalists | Indian composers | Indian musicians | Living people | Padma Vibhushan awardees | Sitar players | World record holders | Narail District In other languages : বাংলা | Dansk | Deutsch | Español | Esperanto | Français | हिन्दी | Italiano | עברית | मराठी | Nederlands | 日本語 | Norsk ( bokmål ) | Polski | Português | Simple English | Suomi | Svenska | தமிழ் Ravi Shankar Shankar , Ravi রবি শঙ্কর ( Bengali ) ; Shôngkor , Robi ( Bengali transliteration ) Musician April 7 1920 Varanasi , Uttar Pradesh , India living 