Ravi Shankar Quotes

In India, I have been called a 'destroyer.' But that is only because they mixed my identity as a performer and as a composer. As a composer I have tried everything, even electronic music and avant-garde. But as a performer I am, believe me, getting more classical and more orthodox, jealously protecting the heritage that I have learned.
In the olden days, I believe Mozart also improvised on piano, but somehow in the last 200 years, the whole training of Western classical music - they don't read between the lines, they just read the lines.
In the U.K., classical music is composed by individuals and written down. Indian music is based on certain sequences called ragas. When I perform live, 95% of the music is improvised: it never sounds the same twice.
Many people, especially young people, have started listening to sitar since George Harrison, one of the Beatles, became my disciple.
My brother had a house in Paris. To it came many Western classical musicians. These musicians all made the same point: 'Indian music,' they said, 'is beautiful when we hear it with the dancers. On its own, it is repetitious and monotonous.'
My music has a very spiritual background, a sanctity that is almost like worship.
One single raga can be performed for two hours, three hours.
'Ravi' means 'sun.' It's a Sanskrit original word. And 'Shankar' is another name of Shiva, one of the holy trinity god that we worship.
The music that I have learned and want to give is like worshipping God. It's absolutely like a prayer.
There are thousands of ragas, and they are all connected with different times of the day, like sunrise or night or sunset. It is all based on 72 of what we call 'mela' or scales. And we have principally nine moods, ranging from peacefulness to praying, or the feeling of emptiness you get by sitting by the ocean.
To me, you know, from my childhood I always had a fascination for United States.
When people say that George Harrison made me famous, that is true in a way.
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AuthorName
Ravi Shankar
Profession
Musician
BirthDate
07 April, 1920
DeathDate
11 December, 2012
Country
India
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