April 7 - Ravi Shankar (The Musical Birthday Series, 5th Annual Cycle)

Previous posts for April 7th may be found here: Charles Burney (2019),  Percy Faith (2020), Billie Holiday (2021), and Domenico Dragonetti (2022)

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Ravi Shankar (7 April 1920 – 11 December 2012) was an Indian sitarist and composer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anti-Appropriation  

 

In the late 1960s, Shankar distanced himself from the hippie movement and drug culture. He explained during an interview: "It makes me feel rather hurt when I see the association of drugs with our music. The music to us is religion. The quickest way to reach godliness is through music." -- Wikipedia

When Ravi Shankar’s ragas

Fed counterculture sagas

  Of secular enlightenment through drugs,

He said that he would rather

Have the cognoscenti gather,

  And worship through the night on woven rugs.

 

 

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