Ravi Shankar (1920-2012) lived life to the full, with most of his 90-and-odd years spent in the public eye. It was a life of intense relationships; with his mother, teachers, brothers, disciples, wives and lovers, and with fellow musicians, music makers, filmmakers and impresarios in India and around the world. But over and above these relationships it was a life steeped in music of the most exquisite classicism, and if he is known today as the one person who made Indian music widely known in Europe and America, it is as much for his performances in the Hindustani tradition to which he belonged as it is for the fusion and orchestral pieces he composed for western instruments.
Oliver Craske tells this remarkable story with clarity, admiration and a fine understanding of all the musical systems in which Ravi Shankar was engaged. He has been fortunate as a biographer in the…