Memorial services of the legendary Indian sitar maestro and composer, Pandit Ravi Shankar, who died in California early this week, would be held in both the United States and India.
Both the services, near his home in Southern California and India, will be attended by family and friends, and will offer an opportunity for loved ones to share intimate memories and thoughts about the musician, said a press statement issued on behalf of his family.
“Public concerts celebrating Ravi’s music, in both New York and London, are being discussed for 2013. More information will be announced as it’s available,” it said.
The Shankar family is extremely touched and grateful by the outpouring of support and kind wishes.
“Thank you all for the messages and memories you have shared with me since my father passed away. They have made his image in my heart still more full, bright, and beautiful. He will live on in the music he gave us, and I feel him around me so strongly still,” his daughter Anoushka Shankar said on her Facebook page.
Norah Jones, his other daughter, posted videos of Ravi Shankar performing on her page and stated: “He’s 51 in the first clip and 92 in the second clip, and an inspiration in both. I love you and miss you, Pops.”
Sukanya Shankar, the wife of the music icon, said that “he has always belonged to the public, whom he loved and cherished’’.
The family is also encouraging people to help carry on Shankar’s mission of peace through music by donating either to the Ravi Shankar Foundation (www.justgive.org) or to their favourite charity in Ravi’s name this holiday season.