Ravi Shankar, the Indian sitarist and composer whose collaborations with Western musicians – both classical and rock – made him a familiar concert name by the late '60s and earned him the title "godfather of world music," died Tuesday in a hospital near his home in Southern California, his family said. He was 92.
Shankar's foundation said in a statement that he had suffered upper respiratory and heart problems and had undergone heart-valve replacement surgery last week, reports the Associated Press.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also confirmed Shankar's death, calling him a "national treasure."
Robindra Shankar Chowdhury was born on April 7, 1920, in Varanasi (also known as Benares), India, and shot to international fame in 1965, when Beatle George Harrison studied with him. Already, Shakar, whose 1982 film score for the biopic Gandhi would earn him an Oscar nomination, had met and performed with classical violinist Yehudi Menuhin.
source: Yahoo.fr
