'Private' Memorials for Ravi Shankar in U.S., India

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Private memorials will be held in India and California for legendary Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, a publicist said Friday, after his death earlier this week.

Concerts to celebrate the 92-year-old's life will be held next year in New York and London, he added, giving no further details about funeral or other arrangements.

"Memorial services will be held near his homes in Southern California and in India," said the publicist, Stuart Wolferman, noting that they would be "private" events.

"Both services will be attended by family and friends, and will offer an opportunity for loved ones to share intimate memories and thoughts about the musician.

"Public concerts celebrating Ravi's music, in both New York and London, are being discussed for 2013," he added in a statement.

Shankar died Tuesday in southern California at the age of 92, after failing to recover from surgery at a hospital in La Jolla, near San Diego last week. His family was at his bedside.

The sitar pioneer taught his close friend George Harrison, the late Beatle, to play the instrument and collaborated with him on several projects, including the ground-breaking Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.

Harrison called Shankar "the godfather of world music," and Yehudi Menuhin, widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century, compared him to Mozart.

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