On the eve of his last ever gig in Europe, sitar giant Ravi Shankar tells John O’Mahony of The Guardian why the 60s got India wrong, how his daughters give him hope - and why Hendrix annoyed him:
If Ravi Shankar has one abiding memory of the Monterey pop festival - which took place in the heady summer of 1967, at the height of his notoriety as the sitar-playing guru to the stars - it is of unfortunate scheduling. Slated to appear before him were Jefferson Airplane, a band whose blues-inflected barrage of pulsating sound couldn’t have clashed more with his own karmic composure. And right after him was one Jimi Hendrix, then still a relative unknown, but with a growing reputation for ferocious, turbo-charged guitar solos.
[Photo: Ravi Shankar / AP]
