Article updated: 12/13/2012 5:30 AM

Indian community celebrates Shankar’s legacy

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Indian musician Ravi Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, died Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012. He was 92.

Associated Press

A portrait of legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar is placed under a tree Wednesday as part of a makeshift memorial at his music center, in New Delhi, India. Shankar, who is credited with connecting the world to Indian music, died Tuesday in San Diego at the age of 92.

Associated Press

In this Dec. 19, 2002, Indian Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar, right, and daughter Anoushka Shankar smile during a press conference in Calcutta, India. Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, has died. He was 92.

Associated Press

In this Aug. 3, 1967 file photo, George Harrison, of the Beatles, left, sits cross-legged with his musical mentor, Ravi Shankar of India, in Los Angeles, as Harrison explains to newsmen that Shankar is teaching him to play the sitar. Shankar, the sitar virtuoso who became a hippie musical icon of the 1960s after hobnobbing with the Beatles and who introduced traditional Indian ragas to Western audiences over an eight-decade career, died Tuesday. He was 92.

Associated Press

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As both the local Indian community and music lovers around the world mourn the death of Ravi Shankar, the iconic master of the sitar is being remembered as the "godfather" of Indian classical music and an ambassador who built cultural bridges worldwide. "What he did for Indian arts in the world is probably unmatched," said Anuradha Behari, who lives in Burr Ridge and helps organize the annual Eyes on India Arts Festival.