The Blackwing 3 pays homage to Ravi Shankar on his 100th birthday.Shankar was an Indian musician and composer who played the sitar.Hans Neuhoff described him in "The Music in Past and Present" as the most famous contemporary Indian musician.In 1956 he began traveling through Europe and America on concert tours and increased the reputation of Indian classical music in the 1960s through teaching, performing, and through contact with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and George Harrison of the Beatles.Shankar explored Western music by writing instrumental concertos for sitar and orchestra and toured worldwide in the 1970s and 1980s.Part of the income from the sale of the pencils goes to the Ravi Shankar Foundation.
The pencil consists of a turmeric-colored shaft, printed with the Sanskrit symbol for Om.
Blackwing
With roots in the 1930s, the pencil developed by Eberhard Faber was discontinued in 1998.After many inquiries from various artistic circles, Palomino finally resumed production in 2010.
Note: For economical sharpening with an unusually flat angle, we recommend the KUM "Long Point" pencil sharpener.
The manufacturer writes
In June of 1966, George Harrison met maestro Ravi Shankar in Bath, England. Harrison asked Ravi to teach him how to play the sitar, a task Ravi agreed to only after considerable hesitation. Their collaboration resulted in an explosion in the popularity of classical Indian music and culture in the United States and around the world. The Blackwing 3 is a tribute to Ravi Shankar on his 100th birthday. It features our extra-firm graphite and a matte turmeric finish accented with a pattern inspired by one of Ravi’s iconic sitars. The pattern prominently features the ॐ (Om), a sacred Sanskrit symbol with three phonetic components that correlate to the waking, dream, and unconscious states of being. A portion of every pack sold will benefit the Ravi Shankar Foundation and their mission to "preserve the diversity of cultures and richness of their arts."
