Sitar Maestro Ravi Shankar Dies Aged 92, Beatles’ George Harrison Called Him ‘Godfather of World Music’

Ravi Shankar, world music icon and Indian sitar maestro died Dec.11 at Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla, San Diego. He had undergone a heart valve replace men surgery last week.

Shankar brought Indian music to the world stage in the 1960s. He influenced the hippie movement and musicians like George Harrison of Beatles, Grateful Dead, John Coltrane.

Shankar's famous disciple was Harrison who learnt the sitar under his guidance. Harrison called Shankar, "Godfather of world music."

"When George became my student, I got a new audience: the younger generation," Shankar told Rolling Stone in 1997. "And, of course, they came like a flood because the whole thing happened with the hippie movement and this interest in Indian culture. Unfortunately it got all mixed up with drugs and Kamasutra and all that. I was like a rock star... I said, 'Give me the chance to make you high through out music,' which it does, really. I think it's good I made that stand, and that's why I'm still here today."

Shankar was well established in the classical music tradition of India since the 1940s.

Shankar scored music for the Indian director Satyajit Ray's "Apu" trilogy in the 1950s and for Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi" in 1982.

His music influenced Beatles' "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)." Later Harrison who learnt Sitar played it in "Within You Without You."

Shankar was the only musician from India who performed at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, Woodstock in 1969 and at the all-star Concert for Bangladesh benefit in 1971. He has won three Grammy Awards.

Shankar is survived by his wife Sukanya Shankar and his daughter and Protégé, Anoushka. Pop star, Norah Jones is also his daughter from a previous relationship.

"He's one of the true legends," Bono told U-T San Diego in a 2000 interview. "We listened a lot to his albums."

He was born in Varanasi in a Bengali family.

The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said the country has lost a "national treasure" calling him a "global ambassador of India's cultural heritage".