I've been sick and busy this week, but I didn't want to forget to acknowledge the passing of legendary sitar player Ravi Shankar, who died Tuesday in San Diego. He was 92: Sitar legend Ravi Shankar dies at 92.
The famed international musician is credited with bringing Indian music to the west, and taught the late George Harrison of the Beatles to play the sitar:
In the 1960s, he took Eastern music mainstream in the West. He lent ethereal, spiritual sounds to the Fab Four through his friendship with Harrison, who recorded them on the "Sgt. Pepper's" album in the song "Within You Without You."Shankar is survived by his wife, Sukanya, and daughter Anoushka Shankar. Interesting fact: Ravi Shankar was also the father of jazz singer Norah Jones. More here: Ravi Shankar, emissary for world beat.
Virtuoso performances at Monterey in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969 helped cement Shankar's place in Western musical history as an ambassador of Eastern wisdom to a generation looking for new values.
"Ravi was a great loss musically, spiritually and physically. God bless to Ravi's family. Peace & Love," Beatle Ringo Starr said in a statement released through a representative.