Google Doodle celebrates Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birth anniversary

Today’s Google Doodle by artist Kevin Laughlin uses a sitar of the same style used by Pandit Ravi Shankar. Born on April 7, 1920, was instrumental in popularizing Classical Indian Music in the west.  Ravi Shankar had an early career in a dancing troop, worked as a composer and served a stint as the music director at All India Radio. During this time, he composed the music for Satyajit Ray’s Apu Trilogy of films, Pather Panchali, Aparajito and Apur Sansar. Ravi Shankar began to tour the world performing Indian Classical Music from 1956. He collaborated with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and guitarist George Harrison during this time. These associations exposed western audiences to Indian Classical Music, and pop songs started using Indian instruments including the tabla and the sitar. A style of rock and pop music known as Raga Rock emerged because of Shankar’s influence. Ravi Shankar composed for Sitar and Orchestra. The Indian Government honoured Shankar with the Padma Vibhushan in 1981 and the Bharat Ratna in 1999. Shankar continued to perform until his death in 2012. Google Doodle’s reach changes each day according to where in the world the Doodle for that particular day is appropriate. Pandit Ravi Shankar has fans in the United States, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Israel, Indonesia and Japan, according to the reach of today’s Google Doodle.