For those who are unfamiliar with Ravi Shankar and the instrument synonymous with his name, explaining the cultural significance of his life can be a time-consuming task. Luckily, this is made easier by first noting both George Harrison and Brian Jones were his students, and through Shankar’s guidance learned how to play the sitar (you recall the Rolling Stones’ “Paint it Black” or the Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood?” Yep, that’s the sitar and those songs wouldn’t have happened without Mr. Shankar’s guidance). In turn, through the Beatles, the philosophy, music and fashion of the East became adopted by the '60s peace movement, becoming icons of that era.

Famous throughout India and Europe, Ravi Shankar made his direct mark on American pop culture in the 1960s and early ‘70s, playing the Monterey Pop Festival, Woodstock and the Concert for Bangladesh. A lifelong devotee of music, Shankar is recognized as the world’s foremost sitar virtuoso. (In addition, he is also the father of Grammy-Award winning singer Norah Jones, as well as sitar disciple Anoushka Shankar.) The honorable Ravi Shankar recently embarked on his 85th birthday tour, and the Synthesis had the opportunity to ask him a few questions.

Hello Mr. Shankar. Before I ask you a few questions I wanted to first state that I consider this a great honor to speak with you.
Thank you. [laughs]

How are you feeling today, how is your health?
Fine. We have been performing a lot in Florida, a few places, New York and New Jersey, and we flew over yesterday. We are in San Francisco today, and we go by bus tomorrow morning. We have tomorrow in Napa.

Do you consider touring to be difficult?
Believe me, touring in the bus like we have been doing, a special bus where I can sleep and all that, it was so wonderful all along. This plane thing is, you know, traveling by plane has become such a nuisance now. It’s not fun anymore. [laughs]

In your opinion, what has living a life devoted to playing music taught you about human beings?
Well [laughs] that is a very deep question. Ah…music to me dearly means the most, ah, more than anything in the world for me. And it has made me really more sensitive to all the pleasures and pains, everything that I experience within me or around me, and made me much more sensitive, I think.

What role, if any, will music play in achieving world peace?
[laughs] I don’t believe it can play any role directly. You know, playing Beethoven’s Fifth or a raga may not stop a crowd of people who are mad and fighting. But I think in general, music is one thing that can bring peace of mind to the listener. Unfortunately, all of the political leaders and people who really are at the helm may not be that musical. If they were I think that it would have been much better. But, you know, it is not like anything that directly you can play music and stop fighting or anything like that, or make a person calm down if he’s violent. But, on the other hand, they are experimenting in hospitals and everywhere, music therapy you know, where they hear different type of music to cool people down when they’re not feeling well. It has effect, definitely.

Sorry to start off with such philosophical questions. One thing that I was wondering is do you ever listen to Beatles records?
To tell you the truth, I have never been listening to a lot. Whenever it was played, somehow, I have heard two of their songs, but I’m not completely knowledgeable about their music. The thing, the few that I have heard [are] the personal ones of Paul and George and John.

I was wondering this because Indian classical music has influenced Western pop music, but in turn, has pop music influenced Indian classical music?
No, I don’t think so. Of course there are people who are very much into fusion and working on these experimental things and commercial things to sell the record, and more of them are gimmicks, actually. But some of them are done by very talented people, you know. It all depends on who likes it and how much it sells. That’s what matters as far as they are concerned. And that’s exactly the state of music.

How has teaching and playing with your daughter Anoushka differed from other students…
It has been a very great experience in my life, as a guru and a father both. I’m very proud of her, she is a fabulous musician, and it’s such a joy to perform along with her.

How do you feel about your daughter Norah [Jones]?
That’s another thing that I am very proud of. I love her very much, and though she’s not singing Indian music or anything, it’s beautiful. Whatever she does, it comes out so…it touches you.

Who do you consider to be your personal heroes?
Ah…[laughs] Not very many present ones, unfortunately. But the great poet Rabindranath [Tagore] and many people who are far gone, you know, people like da Vinci, Einstein, you know. They can be just from different areas, but they have been great musicians like my guru [Ustad Allaudin Khan] was, and like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, all this.

You believe in reincarnation, correct?
I mean, somehow being born a Hindu and having been raised as one with all of our religious and philosophical beliefs and things, I do, really.

What do you think you were in your past life?
I’m sure that it had something to do with art. Maybe music only, but all forms of art. And I feel very strongly but, you know, it is one of those things.

What do you hope to become next?
Again, I would like to pursue — provided I can keep this memory of what I have accumulated in this life [laughs] — if I can carry it on, certainly I want to be a musician.

Music seems to be working out for you pretty well.
Well, that’s the only thing I know a little of. [laughs]