Shubhendra Shankar, also known as Shubho Shankar, was a graphic artist, musician and composer.
Background
Shubho was the son of sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar and surbahar player of the Maihar Gharana, Annapurna Devi. He was the grandson of Ustad Allauddin Khan, and the half-brother of Ravi Shankar"s daughters Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar. He learned the sitar from his mother Annapurna Devi.
He had not completed his "taalim" (training) with her when he left for the United States of America with his father Ravi Shankar.
While living in his father"s home in Hollywood, he devoted his talents to painting and drawing, and earned a degree in fine arts from the Otis Art Institute of the Parsons School of Design in Los Los Angeles
Career
In 1971, within two years of his arrival in the United States, Shubho Shankar performed in a concert for the first time, playing with his father at New York"s Carnegie Hall. Shankar performed frequently on concert tours, composed music for films and recorded several albums. He performed with his father, appearing throughout Europe, Asia and the United States, including performances at the Kennedy Center in Washington, District of Columbia
After marrying, he gradually dropped out of the music scene and stopped playing the sitar for almost eight years.
At the age of 40, he took his father"s advice to return to his music full-time. He gave lessons in sitar playing, singing and flute in Orange County, San Diego and Los Los Angeles
In 1989–1990, Shankar went on a concert tour of England, Europe and India. On this trip, which also was to be his last visit to India, he met his mother after a gap of 20 years during which the two had no communication.
He resumed learning the sitar under his mother.
Shankar played together with his father at the Sawai Gandharva Festival in Pune in 1990, where some music critics commented that he was out of tune. Shankar was dejected, and refused to stay in India to complete his sitar education, saying it was "too late now". He returned to the United States, and in his last few months cut himself off from everyone.
Shankar died of pneumonia at Los Alamitos Medical Center following an illness of several months at his home in Garden Grove.
He was cremated and his remains dispersed in the ocean off Marina del Rey.