Ravi Shankar to receive coveted Fellowship Award

The legendary Ravi Shankar, musician, composer, performer and scholar of classical Indian music, is to receive the prestigious Fellowship Award for nine decades of outstanding contribution to the music industry, at The Asian Awards in partnership with Lebara.

Ravi Shankar, a world-class sitarist and composer, is India's most esteemed musical ambassador and a singular phenomenon in the classical music worlds of east and west. He is well-known for his pioneering work in bringing Indian music to the west and was the first Indian artist to compose music for western cinema. In celebration of his 90th birthday and illustrious nine decades in music, Ravi Shankar founded record label, East Meets West Music, last year.

Although Ravi Shankar is well known for his interaction with the popular music world, Shankar is also the leading international figure in Indian music. It is a little known fact that Beatles star George Harrison, began to study eastern music with Ravi Shankar in 1966. Harrison bought a sitar and used it to record the song 'Norwegian Wood', which later led to Indian music being used by other musicians and created the raga rock trend. Harrison later dubbed Ravi Shankar 'the Godfather of World Music".

Commenting on the news of receiving the Fellowship Award Ravi Shankar said: "It is a great honour to receive this fellowship award and to continue working within the long and rich cultural history of India. Of course, the greatest reward and honour is having music be such a powerful force in my life. I thank the Asian Awards for their support and for their work in recognizing the gifts of the global Asian community."

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