Ravi Shankar

India, 1939–2012

Indian sitarist and composer who introduced Hindustani classical music to large Western audiences through concerts and recordings from the 1960s.

MusicRoots documents 1 artist who influenced Ravi Shankar and 5 artists Ravi Shankar influenced in turn. Every connection cites a published source.

Who influenced Ravi Shankar?

• Allauddin Khan — Shankar spent seven years living in Allauddin Khan's household at Maihar in the strictest guru-shishya discipline — the sole source of his art.

Which artists did Ravi Shankar influence?

• Donovan — Shankar opened Donovan to Indian classical music after meeting through George Harrison and The Beatles.
• Mahavishnu Orchestra — Indian classical music profoundly shaped McLaughlin — its ragas, tabla rhythms and odd meters are woven through Mahavishnu's sound (and later Shakti).
• Philip Glass — Ravi Shankar's Indian cyclic rhythm (tala) was what Glass studied while working with him in Paris in 1965.
• The Byrds — 'Eight Miles High' (1966) is founding raga-rock — McGuinn and Crosby have named Ravi Shankar's Indian classical music a direct model for its drone and modal guitar.
• The Stooges — In Ron Asheton's riff vocabulary — the drone behind 'I Wanna Be Your Dog', with the Velvets.