Sitar-Man

Ravi Shankar almost canceled a July 10 appearance in Arles, France, after two of his sitars were broken during an Air France flight from Lebanon. Shankar, an Encinitas resident since 1998, wouldn't play a replacement sitar flown in from London, but his instrument-maker arrived from India with two sitars, and his performance at the World Music Festival went on as scheduled. Shankar filed a loss claim against Air France, assessing the sitars' value at $200,000. "I feel like I have lost two relatives," the musician told the BBC.