Pandit Ravi Shankar, who won his third Grammy for his album Full Circle, on Thursday described the decoration as "very important for me."

"It's a nice feeling," said the octagenarian music composer here noting that "the exclusivity and universality" of these awards in the music world "meant very much".

One of the most popular and honoured Indian sitarist in the world, Pandit Ravi Shankar got the award for Full Circle/Carnegie Hall 2000 a rare live recording by the maestro, which also features his daughter Anoushka, in the Best World Music Album category.

The awards were announced in Los Angeles late last evening, which saw Shankar's recording of Full circle competing with Brazil's Gilberto Gil and Milton Nascimento and Britain's John Mc Laughlin for "Saturday Night in Bombay - Remember Shakti."