Background
He was born into a prominent musical family in Mangalore, India.
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Harihar Rao
Edit Profiledirector musician Fulbright scholar
Career
He moved to the United States in 1964, residing in Pasadena, California. Rao was a Fulbright Scholar at University of California, Los Los Angeles, He worked in the ethnomusicology department at University of California, Los Angeles and privately taught and mentored students of the sitar. Rao explored a variety of fusions of Indian and western music
His "Hindustani Jazz Sextet", which included the trumpeter Don Ellis, combined classical Indian rhythms and jazz forms.
In 1965 Rao and Ellis co-wrote An Introduction to Indian Music for the Jazz Musician, which was printed by Jazz Magazine. Raga Rock in 1966 mixed Rao"s sitar playing with the Folkswingers"s western instruments to cover popular rock songs, such as "Paint lieutenant Black" and "Norwegian Wood".
In 1967, Rao published the book Introduction to Sitar, which sold more than 500 copies in its first two weeks of publication, and ultimately thousands of copies in four printings. Rao and Shankar co-founded the Music Circle, an organization dedicated to promoting Indian classical music
He served as the Artistic Director of the Music Circle for 40 years.
He became a United States. citizen in 1969. Rao taught at a number of colleges and universities in Southern California, including University of California, Los Angeles, Cal State Long Beach, Cal State Los Angeles, California Institute for the Arts, and Caltech.
