Asia Society honors Sitar maestro Ravishankar

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 14:24 IST
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New York: Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar was honored with Asia Society's Cultural Legacy Award during a colorful ceremony held at Asia Society in New York, reports Indian Tribune. Ravi Shankar, the legendary sitarist and composer, is India's most esteemed musical ambassador and a singular phenomenon in the classical music world of East and West. Pandit Ravi Shankar, who has turned 90 and composed music for ballets and films in India, Canada, Europe and the United States ranging over a career of 70 years, was unable to accept the award in person due to illness, but politely thanked the Asia Society via a short video message from his home in California. Her daughter Anoushka Shankar who is another renowned musician accepted the award on his behalf. Asia Society President Vishakha Desai commemorated the organization's relation with the artist, which stretched back to more than 50 years, when the Society sponsored Shankar's first US concert appearances and said, "He was literally the very first Asian artist that this institution presented right after being founded in 1956." The award ceremony was followed by a special screening of the re-release and DVD premiere of the 1971 film Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India. Through rare footage of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the film, narrated entirely by Shankar, traces his journey to America and Britain, as well as his emotional return to India to visit his guru, the great Bengali multi-instrumentalist and composer Ustad Allauddin Khan. Ravi Shankar is an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and is a member of the United Nations International Ros-trum of composers. He has received many awards and honors from his own country and from all over the world, including 14 doctorates, the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan, Desikottam, Padma Bhushan of 1967, the Music Council UNESCO Award 1975, the Magsaysay Award from Manila, two Grammy's, the Fukuoka Grand Prize from Japan, the Polar Music Prize of 1998, the Crystal Award from Davos, with the title 'Global Ambassador' to name some.