This file photo shows Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka Shankar performing at the Dover Lane Music Conference in Kolkata on February 7, 2009. Photo: AFP

Sitar legend Pandit Ravi Shankar is to receive a posthumous lifetime achievement Grammy award, organisers of the music industry's top prize show said Wednesday.
Three-time Grammy winner Shankar, who died on Tuesday in California, is among seven artistes including Carole King and the Temptations named as Grammys Lifetime Achievement Award honourees.
“He was selected before his death and notified last week he was receiving the honour,” a Grammys spokeswoman, Stephanie Schell, told AFP when asked if Shankar was added to the list after his death.
“As one of the world's most renowned sitar players, (Shankar) is a true ambassador for international music,” the Recording Academy said in its brief biography of the Indian musician, alongside those of the other honourees.
“As a performer, composer, teacher and writer, he is considered a pioneer in bringing Indian music to the West,” it added.
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 groundbreaking “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.
The other Grammy lifetime award recipients are “You've Got a Friend” singer King, classical pianist Glenn Gould, jazz musician Charlie Haden, blues legend Lightnin' Hopkins, Motown greats the Temptations and Patti Page, famous for “(How Much Is That) Doggie In The Window”.
The 55th Grammy Awards show will be held in Los Angeles on February 10, 2013.
Shankar received a Grammy nod only last week, when the Academy announced those shortlisted, including his “The Living Room Sessions Part 1”, released by his East Meets West Music label, for Best World Music Album.
His daughter Anoushka Shankar was also nominated in the same category for her Deutsche Grammophon release, “Traveller”.
In a comment via his publicist after the nominations were announced, Shankar said: “It is thrilling to see something we worked so hard on, and released on our own label, given this wonderful recognition.
“And, of course, I am deeply proud of my daughter Anoushka and her own nomination. Actually, I think she might give a better speech,” he added.
Another daughter, five-time Grammy winning singer Norah Jones, paid tribute to her father. “He will be greatly missed by me and music lovers everywhere,” she said in a statement.
She posted two videos of her father on her Facebook page. “Here are some great clips of my dad playing the sitar for anyone who never saw him perform live,” she wrote.
“He's 51 in the first clip and 92 in the second clip, and an inspiration in both. I love you and miss you, Pops.”