By IANS
New Delhi, Feb 23 (IANS) A five-day festival on Indian classical music and dance begins here Friday to commemorate the 64th birth anniversary of music legend George Harrison, the youngest member of the Beatles.

The festival, which will be organised and held at the Ravi Shankar Institute in collaboration with the United Nations World Food Programme, will see performances from veterans and amateurs alike in the field of Indian classical music.
‘The aim of this festival is to promote art and culture and to encourage the younger artistes in this field. So we will have a veteran and a budding artiste perform every day so that even if people come to see the former, the latter also gets recognition,’ said renowned sitar exponent Anoushka Shankar.
Conceptualised by sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar, the festival is being held for the second successive occasion though it is dedicated to Harrison for the first time.
As a close friend of the Shankar family, Harrison had produced Ravi Shankar’s album ‘Chants of India’, in which Anoushka made her debut as a conductor at the age of 15.
The maestro, will, however not be present in the festival because of health problems. ‘My father is in California and will be unable to make it to the festival this time. And since I want to perform in this festival only in the presence of my father, I will just host the festival this time,’ says Anoushka.
The festival will see artistes like Sanjeev Shankar and Ashwani Shankar on the shehnai, Manju Mehta on the sitar, Shibai Patnaik performing an Odissi recital and Madhup Mudgal on the vocals, among others, giving the audience a melodious treat.
George Harrison was born Feb 25, 1943 and was the lead guitarist of the Beatles. He was attracted to Indian music and learned to play the sitar and subsequently introduced the instrument to millions of Western music listeners. He died Nov 29, 2001.