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{{Short description|Music school in Maharastra}}
The '''Kinnara School of Music''' was a [[music school]] founded in [[Mumbai]], India, in 1962 by Indian classical musician [[Ravi Shankar]]. With his increased popularity and influence in the West, he opened a second branch of the school at 8718 West 3rd Street in Los Angeles in May 1967.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Diehl |first=Digby |date=May 21, 1962 |title=Raga is the Rage with Ravi |url=https://www-newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/67565652/ |access-date=May 7, 2024 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=573}}</ref><ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/dec/12/ravi-shankar-classic-interview "Ravi Shankar: 'Our music is sacred' – a classic interview from the vaults"] (12 December 2012). [[The Guardian|theguardian.com]]. Retrieved 21 July 2017.</ref>{{sfn|Shankar|2007|pp=97–98}} Shankar's concept for Kinnara was to further the strict [[guru–shishya tradition]] of musical education that he had experienced under his teacher, [[Allauddin Khan]], in the 1940s. The Mumbai centre staged productions of orchestral works by Shankar, including ''Nava Rasa Ranga''.{{sfn|Shankar|1999|pp=171–72}}

Due to Shankar's busy international schedule of concerts and recording, everyday tuition at Kinnara was delegated to protégés such as [[Shambhu Das]] and Amiyo Das Gupta.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-sitar-legend-ustad-shamim-ahmed-khan-passes-away-1650175 |first=Yogesh|last=Pawar|title=Sitar legend Ustad Shamim Ahmed Khan passes away|newspaper=[[Daily News and Analysis]]|date=14 February 2012|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref> Among the students at Kinnara was [[Beatles]] guitarist [[George Harrison]], who received [[sitar]] tuition from Shankar and Shambhu Das in Mumbai in late 1966.{{sfn|Shankar|1999|pp=192–93}}<ref>{{cite news|first=Geoffrey|last=Clarfield|title=Good enough to teach the Beatles, but not to record|url=https://nationalpost.com/full-comment/geoffrey-clarfield-good-enough-to-teach-the-beatles-but-not-to-record |newspaper=[[National Post]]|date=15 November 2010|access-date=31 May 2017}}</ref> During a visit to London that year, Shankar said that, given the widespread fascination for Indian music at the time, he was concerned that "people who don't really understand the sitar will cash in on the sudden interest" by offering newcomers lessons on the instrument. Shankar added that he would consider opening a school in the UK, where his most advanced students could teach, but only if he was sure that the interest there was genuine.<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Bob|last=Houston|title=''Melody Maker'', June 11|magazine=The History of Rock|date=2015|orig-year=11 June 1966|page=59}}</ref>

Harrison attracted publicity for the Los Angeles school when he and Shankar gave a press conference there in August 1967,<ref>{{cite news|last=Fong-Torres|first=Ben|title=George Harrison: Harrison in the Haight|newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]]|date=2 December 2001}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/george-harrison-harrison-in-the-haight Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).</ref> which helped promote Shankar's upcoming concert at the [[Hollywood Bowl]].{{sfn|Kubernik|2017|p=165}}<ref>{{cite magazine|author=KRLA Beat staff|title=Beatle Meets Stateside Press|magazine=[[KRLA Beat]]|date=9 September 1967|page=5|url=http://krlabeat.sakionline.net/issue/9sept67.pdf|access-date=22 July 2017}}</ref> Other students attending the Los Angeles centre included [[Robby Krieger]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/robby-krieger-mn0000275991/biography |first=Greg|last=Prato|title=Robby Krieger|publisher=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref> and [[John Densmore]] of [[the Doors]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cavehollywood.com/ravi-shankar-a-life-in-music-exhibit-at-the-grammy-museum-may-2015-spring-2016/ |first=Harvey|last=Kubernik|title=Ravi Shankar: A Life In Music Exhibit at the Grammy Museum May 2015–Spring 2016|publisher=Cave Hollywood|date=16 June 2015|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref> and American musicians [[Russ Titelman]]<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQkEAAAAMBAJ&dq=Ravi+Shankar&pg=PA47 |first=Timothy|last=White|title='Please Don't Wake Me' – Russ Titelman 35th Anniversary Salute|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|date=22 June 1996|page=47|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref> and [[Colin Walcott]].{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|pp=110, 425}}{{sfn|Shankar|1999|p=210}} Scenes filmed at both the Mumbai and Los Angeles schools over 1967–68 appeared in Howard Worth's 1971 documentary on Shankar, titled ''[[Raga (film)|Raga]]''.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=184}}

[[File:Ustad Alauddin Khan.jpg|thumb|left|110px|Shankar's teacher, or [[guru]], [[Allauddin Khan]]]]
Shankar viewed the Los Angeles centre as a base from which he could also educate the American public about Indian music.{{sfn|Baugess|DeBolt|2012|p=595}} When opening the school there, he emphasised the need to recognise the sacred aspect of Indian classical music,<ref>{{cite magazine|author=KRLA Beat staff|title=My Music Not For Addicts' – Shankar|magazine=[[KRLA Beat]]|date=29 July 1967|page=10}} Available at [http://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/ravi-shankar-my-music-not-for-addicts Rock's Backpages] (subscription required).</ref> which was defined by Allauddin Khan's phrase "Nada Brahma" ("Sound is God").{{sfn|Shankar|2007|pp=65, 100, 102, 105}} He subsequently became disappointed with the impatience and lack of focus displayed by the majority of his Western students.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=425}} He said that in many cases, as with his concert audiences in the United States,{{sfn|Baugess|DeBolt|2012|pp=595–96}} their motives were based on the misconception that Indian music was allied with the hippie movement's espousal of hallucinogenic drugs and free love.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=425}}{{sfn|Shankar|2007|p=103}} Shankar identified Colin Walcott as an exception, calling him "really serious" and "my first American disciple".{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=425}} He also said of Harrison, despite the Beatle eventually relinquishing the sitar:{{sfn|Baugess|DeBolt|2012|pp=596}} "[Indian music] was not a fad for him, he loved it until the end and became very very dear to me."<ref name="Reflections">{{cite web|url=http://www.ravishankar.org/reflections.html |title=Reflections" > "Excerpts from a conversation between Raviji and Satish and Shashi Vyas, June 2007| publisher=The Ravi Shankar Foundation |date=7 December 2013 |access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref>

[[File:Partho Sarothy with Ravi Shankar.jpg|thumb|170px|right|Shankar with one of his students, [[sarod|sarodi]]ya Partho Sarothy, in January 1985]]
Along with his students and protégés from India,<ref name="Reflections" /> including Das Gupta, [[Shamim Ahmed Khan|Shamim Ahmed]] and Taranath Rao, Walcott was one of the musicians Shankar selected for his 1968 [[Ravi Shankar's Festival from India|Festival from India]] orchestra.{{sfn|Shankar|1999|pp=113, 203}} Walcott also contributed to Shankar's ''Raga'' film soundtrack;<ref>{{cite magazine|first=Jeff|last=Kaliss|url=http://eastmeetswestmusic.com/files/songlinesreview.jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141102084333/http://eastmeetswestmusic.com/files/songlinesreview.jpg |title=Ravi Shankar ''Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India''|magazine=[[Songlines (magazine)|Songlines]]|date=26 November 2010|archive-date=2 November 2014|access-date=21 July 2017|page=85}}</ref> titled "Frenzy and Distortion", his piece combined Western and Indian sounds, and evoked the clash of cultures and ideology that Shankar experienced during the height of his popularity in the West.{{sfn|Shankar|1999|pp=210–11}}{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=426}} Some of the musicians who participated in the Festival from India project stayed on to teach at Kinnara.{{sfn|Shankar|1999|p=204}}

By 1969, Shankar was disillusioned with the Los Angeles school and entrusted its running to Das Gupta.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=425}} Shankar continued to tutor Western musicians, having previously held temporary positions at the [[City College of New York]] and the [[University of California, Los Angeles]], and having been a guest lecturer at other colleges and universities, including the [[Ali Akbar College of Music]].{{sfn|Ghosh|1983|pp=56–57}} In October 1970, Shankar became chair of the department of Indian music at the [[California Institute of the Arts]].{{sfn|Ghosh|1983|p=57}} Later, he focused on teaching sitar to his daughter [[Anoushka Shankar]], applying the traditional guru–shishya principles to her musical education.{{sfn|Shankar|1999|pp=281–83}} Among other educational projects, he founded the Ravi Shankar Institute of Music and the Performing Arts in New Delhi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://thequietus.com/articles/10956-ravi-shankar-dies-aged-92 |first=Laurie|last=Tuffrie|title=Ravi Shankar Dies Aged 92|website=[[The Quietus]]|date=12 December 2012|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|20em}}

==Sources==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book|first1=James S.|last1=Baugess|first2=Abbe Allen (eds)|last2=DeBolt |title=Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture|publisher=Greenwood Press|location=Santa Barbara, CA|year=2012|isbn=978-0-313-32944-9}}
* {{cite book|last=Ghosh|first=Dibyendu|title=The Great Shankars|year=1983|publisher=Agee Prakashani|location=Kolkata| oclc=15483971}}
*{{cite book|first=Harvey|last=Kubernik|title=1967: A Complete Rock Music History of the Summer of Love|publisher=Sterling|location=New York, NY|year=2017|isbn=978-1-4549-2052-6}}
* {{cite book|last=Lavezzoli|first=Peter|title=The Dawn of Indian Music in the West|publisher=Continuum|location=New York, NY|year=2006|isbn=0-8264-2819-3}}
* {{cite book|author=Rough Guides| title=World Music: The Rough Guide (Volume 2: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific) |year=2000 |location=London |publisher=Rough Guides/Penguin |isbn=1-85828-636-0}}
* {{cite book|first=Ravi |last=Shankar |title=My Music, My Life ''(updated edn)'' |publisher=Mandala Publishing |location=San Rafael, CA |year=2007 |isbn=978-1-60109-005-8}}
* {{cite book|first=Ravi|last=Shankar|title=Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar|publisher=Welcome Rain|location=New York, NY|year=1999|isbn=1-56649-104-5|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/ragamalaautobiog00shan}}
{{refend}}

{{Ravi Shankar}}
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[[Category:Music schools in India]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1962]]
[[Category:1967 establishments in California]]
[[Category:1962 establishments in Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Ravi Shankar]]

Kinnara School of Music - Revision history

Digitalcreator at 02:31, 20 October 2025