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Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar
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About This Book
A definitive biography of Ravi Shankar, one of the most influential musicians and composers of the 20th century and the best-known practitioner of Hindustani classical music, told with the cooperation of his estate, family, and friendsRavi Shankar was not just a composer and player of classical Indian Hindustani music-he was arguably India's most important cultural figure of the past century. In Indian Sun: The Life and Music of Ravi Shankar, writer Oliver Craske introduces readers to this legendary figure, carefully combining both the personal and professional story of a musician who influenced-and continues to influence-countless artists. Shankar lived through many of the most important international events of the 20th century. He is most commonly known today as the musician who introduced George Harrison and the Beatles to Indian music in the 1960s, dramatically shaping the trajectory of their future albums. Still, there are countless more extraordinary events from his life that make his story utterly fascinating. As a child, Shankar toured European stages as part of his family's dance troupe, including Weimar Germany as Hitler was rising to power, and, in the early 1950s he took part in a cultural delegation to the Soviet Union, Poland and Czechoslovakia. A few years later, he was brought to the USA for a CIA-funded music conference project, courting India as part of the new Cultural Cold War, and by the early 1960s, the Edinburgh festival saw the first flowerings of the counterculture's embrace of his music. He cultivated genuine friendships with Philip Glass, Yehudi Menuhin, George Harrison, John Coltrane, and Benjamin Britten, among many others. From the moment of his birth in Benares, India to his death in a San Diego hospital in 2012, Shankar lived a life that was as colorful, creative, and endlessly collaborative-and the extent to which his influence has rippled into modern music is incalculable. Weaving together never-before-seen material from Shankar's archives along with interviews given and conducted by his widow and daughter, Indian Sun gives readers unprecedented access to a man who defined the modern music landscape as we know it today.
Reviews
"Craske allows Shankar to speak for himself and to analyze himself."
"In this authoritative, slightly overlong portrait, Shankar emerges as an outwardly gentle perfectionist who was not without complications, especially his restless habit of moving from one romantic partner to another."
"Of all the astonishing things that happened in the 1960s, the transformation of Ravi Shankar into global superstar and hippy hero is one of the hardest to explain to anyone who wasn't there."
"Craske, who worked closely with Shankar on his 1997 autobiography Raga Mala, covers every aspect of the artist's life and work, paying close attention to Shankar's personal and cultural relationship to India, with early chapters detailing his childhood and initial career as a dancer proving particularly evocative ...Compelling, informative, and the definitive book on this musical legend."
"Craske handles the niceties of Shankar's personal life with diplomacy while staying focused on his subject's musical mission and lifelong hunger for spiritual fulfilment."
"Craske's conversations with everyone alive who knew Shankar well."
"Accompanied by easily assembled playlists from Shankar's extraordinary back catalogue, this is a beautiful book, as resplendent as its subject's music and life."
"He also explores his complicated and extensive love life in detail."
"'Now I am the music,' Shankar said in 2012, months before his death, and it is in his emotional playing that he lives on."
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