FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory    Ananda Shankar Ananda Shankar Cardiac Arrest  March 26, 1999 Age 50-56 OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY   LINKS

OBITUARY 

Billboard   Fusion Pioneer Ananda Shankar Dead                      Ananda Shankar, the Indian classical                      musician and composer who counted Jimi                      Hendrix among his pupils, died Friday in                      Calcutta of a cardiac arrest. An official                      statement put his age at 50, although                      published reports claim he was 56.                      The nephew of sitar great Ravi Shankar,                      Ananda Shankar helped pioneer the fusion                      of traditional Eastern and Western instrumentation and styles.                      In recent years, he had experienced renewed popularity outside                      his native India, with his music being sought and sampled by                      West Coast rappers and Anglo-Asian breakbeat artists. In fact,                      Shankar toured the U.K. with one of the latter, State Of                      Bengal, in 1998 and was collaborating with the act on an album                      at the time of his death. The U.K.'s Real World label will issue                      that set, to be credited to The Ananda Shankar Experience                      With State Of Bengal, in September.                      Aside from numerous albums, the first of which Reprise issued                      in 1970, Shankar scored several films, television programs, and                      adverts. More recently, he worked with his wife, Tanusree,                      composing music for her dance troupe's productions.                                                       -- Dominic Pride, Londo

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

From  Homepage                     Ananda Shankar, son of the legendary dancers Uday Shankar and Amala Shankar and nephew of Pandit Ravi Shankar, is not, as some people may think, a dancer. His world is 'MUSIC'. After completing his academics at the Scindia School Gwalior, Ananda learnt sitar from Dr.Lalmani Mishra in Benares. It was Ananda who in the 70's started combining Indian and Western instruments to create a global kind of music, a new kind of "Fusion Music" which has now become a trend... He has never experimented with pure classical music. Ananda's first L.P. was released internationally in 1970 and it was in that same year that he gave his first concert. No one had thought of using the Mridangam with Guitar or backing the Sitar or Sarod with a rock beat  or electronic sound effects. His music appeals to all generations and  breaks barriers of nationality and different cultures. His score is original, fresh, soothing and touches the heart.               Ananda's music is heard regularly over the radio, on television, at plays, on airlines, at fashion shows and films. He has composed music for several ballets.                Amongst the several awards and felicitations, Ananda has also won the prestigious National Award from the Hon'ble President of India, as the best music director for Mrinal Sen's film 'Chorus'.  British Airways had a special channel playing Ananda's music in all its aircrafts.               Ananda Shankar was the 'Chief Producer' and 'Music Composer' for 'National Bharatiyam' in the Nehru Centenary Celebration, held in New Delhi in which 50,000 children participated from all over India.               Ananda not only composes the music, but also writes the story and script, designs the lighting and is the Producer and Director of the troupe.

 

 LINKS

A.S. Cetnre for the Performing Arts  Condolences