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Shankar, Ravi

(Encyclopedia)Shankar, Ravi (Robindra Shankar Chowdhury), 1920–2012, Indian sitarist and composer, b. Varanasi. He was the first Indian instrumentalist to attain an international reputation and is credited with i...

Ravi

(Encyclopedia)Ravi räˈvē [key], one of the five rivers of the Punjab, 475 mi (764 km) long, rising in the Himalayas, NW India, and flowing generally W into Pakistan, past Lahore, to join the Chenab River, NE Pak...

sitar

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Sitar sitar sĭtärˈ [key], fretted string instrument with a gourdlike body and a long neck, similar to the lute. It has from 3 to 7 gut strings, tuned in fourths or fifths (or both), and a l...

Khan, Ali Akbar

(Encyclopedia)Khan, Ali Akbar älēˈ ăkˈbär khän [key], 1922–2009, Indian musician, b. Shivpur, East Bengal (now Bangladesh). A master of the sarod, a lutelike 25-stringed N Indian instrument, Khan was born ...

Menuhin, Yehudi

(Encyclopedia)Menuhin, Yehudi yəho͞oˈdē mĕnˈyo͞oĭn [key], 1916–99, British violinist and conductor, b. New York City. Menuhin, an extraordinary prodigy, began playing the violin at four. He made his debut...

Glass, Philip

(Encyclopedia)Glass, Philip, 1937–, American composer, b. Baltimore. Considered one of the most innovative of contemporary composers, he was a significant figure in the development of minimalism in music. Glass a...

Chenab

(Encyclopedia)Chenab chēnäbˈ [key], one of the “five rivers” of the Punjab, 675 mi (1,086 km) long, rising in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh and flowing NW through the Kashmir Himalayas, then SW throug...

Hindu music

(Encyclopedia)Hindu music. The music of India is entirely monodic. To Westerners it is the most accessible of all Asian musical cultures. Its tonal system divides the octave into 22 segments called srutis, not all ...

Sutlej

(Encyclopedia)Sutlej sŭtˈlĕj [key], longest of the five rivers of the Punjab, c.900 mi (1,450 km) long, rising in the Kailas Range, SW Tibet region of China, and flowing generally west, meandering through the Hi...

Indus

(Encyclopedia)Indus ĭnˈdəs [key], chief river of Pakistan, c.1,900 mi (3,060 km) long, rising in the Kailas range in the Tibetan Himalayas, and flowing NW across Ladakh, India, then SW through Pakistan to the Ar...

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