Sitar Master Ravi Shankar with Daughter Anoushka in Tucson with Festival of India III

04/18/2006 03:17AM

Tucson (Arizona), USA - Sitar master Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar will present Festival of India III at Centennial Hall in Tucson on Monday, April 24th. Shankar is a performer, teacher, composer and writer, who has devoted his life to cultural exchange and enlightenment. With more than 60 recordings and three books to his credit, Ravi Shankar’s protégés include Beatle George Harrison (who called him “the godfather of world music”), esteemed classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin and composer Phillip Glass.

Shankar began performing in his early teens as a member of his brother, Uday Shankar’s, dance and music ensemble. He left his brother’s company for an ascetic life of study with sitar master Allaudin Khan and ultimately become India’s cultural ambassador, known around the world. He has collaborated with the aforementioned Yehudi Menuhin, The Beatles, The London Symphony and New York Philharmonic.

George Harrison explained in 1997, “Most people are musicians simply because they play a certain instrument; but Ravi – to me, he is the music; it just happens to be that he plays the sitar. And it’s like that with Anoushka. She has that quality…she is the music.”

Festival of India III is an original Ravi Shankar composition that whisks the audience on a whirlwind visit to India. Anoushka Shankar will conduct the first part with a Vandana, an invocation to Lord Ganesha, the diety who brings good luck; a call to Saraswati, the goddess of music and arts; and finally expresses the ultimate enlightenment, or Kundalini. A recent composition is Viaha Milan about the joyful union, or Milan, between Radha and her beloved Krishna. Following the intermission the Maestro himself is featured with Anoushka on the sitar and Tanmoy Bose on the tabla.

Centennial Hall is located at 1020 E. University Blvd on the campus of the UA. Full Price: $42, $32, $25. Student/Child: $42, $29, $10 with Senior, Group and Military discounts available.

Tickets by phone: (520) 621-3341; TTY: (520) 626-3980. At UA presents Box Office Locations: Centennial Hall, Monday-Friday, 10 am to 6 pm and Saturday, 12 pm to 5 pm. On the web: www.uapresents.org.

World Music Central
http://www.worldmusiccentral.org/article.php/20060410201753985