 A role model of many roles
Musicians, artistes in general, are reputedly temperamental people. There are some outstanding exceptions to the rule. People in the south know that M S Subbulakshmi, one of the greatest musicians of the modern age, was as normal as ordinary people and incredibly humble for a person of her genius. To find a similar personality in today’s Hindustani music scene, notorious for star tantrums and prima donnas, you will have to search far and wide. And it is hardly surprising that Lakshmi Shankar, one of the nicest human beings among celebrity musicians, is in fact a south Indian.
In Chennai recently on an annual visit, the versatile vocalist who started out as a Bharatanatyam dancer of great potential before poor health forced her to give up dancing is so self-effacing that she could easily pass for the mami next door. You only have to hear a single syllable of her chaste rendering of Hindustani classical music to realise she is much more than that - an accomplished representative of the Patiala gharana who has collaborated with some of the greatest musicians, dancers and film-makers in the world in a long and distinguished career.
When doctors forbade young Lakshmi from dancing, she had just been acclaimed for her role of Nati in the ballet ‘Discovery of India’, in the presence of Jawaharlal Nehru, the author of the book of that name. She had been trained by Balasaraswati’s guru Kandappa Pillai, but mesmerised by Uday Shankar’s dance performance in Madras, had persuaded her parents to let her join his troupe. Joining Uday Shankar’s cultural centre at Almora, she became a lead dancer in his repertory, and also performed Bharatanatyam solos in his shows.
In Almora, Carnatic music-trained Lakshmi learnt bhajans from visiting musicians S S Bodas and Dilip Kumar Roy, and Rabindra Sangeet from Sati Devi. She married Rajendra Shankar, Uday Shankar’s brother, and her senior by two decades. When the Almora centre closed down in 1944, the couple shifted to Bombay where Rajendra became a film script writer and scenarist at the Bombay Talkies.
Lakshmi always enjoyed the love and support of mother Visalakshi, a singer and short story writer; and father, nicknamed ‘Harijan Sastri’ by the Mahatma, because he edited Gandhi’s journal, The
Harijan.
When forced by pleurisy to give up dancing Lakshmi learnt typing and shorthand to help her husband, wrote short stories, did playback singing in films like ‘Mastana’, ‘Neecha Nagar’, ‘Dharti ke Lal’ and ‘Do Phool’. She sang for and directed the dance sequences in Nav Ketan’s ‘Andhiyan’. To quote from a tribute in ‘The Hindu’ by Gowri Ramnarayan, “brother-in-law Ravi Shankar kept saying, “Your voice is ideal for classical music.” Music director Madan Mohan brought Ustad Abdul Karim Khan to her house, suggesting that Lakshmi take lessons from him. When Khansaheb sang a thumri, “I felt I had been waiting for this all my life!” Classes began the next day. “Considerations of time and money didn’t weigh with my guru. I was 28 then but he was convinced that I could make it.” Her sound training in the Carnatic genre was a great advantage, but sometimes it hindered her in picking up the completely different methods of handling the tala in the northern genre. “I am giving up,” she once announced. “Are you crazy?” Khansaheb shouted. “You have done in a year what it takes people a decade to achieve!”
After her first public recital at the Entally Conference in Calcutta in 1957, where she won a medal, Lakshmi Shankar never looked back. Completing a music degree under Prof B R Deodhar’s guidance, she went from strength to strength.
Lakshmi Shankar has performed all over India and abroad, is fluent in six languages, has recorded music in fourteen languages. She has participated in Ravi Shankar’s creative experiments such as ‘Melody and Rhythm’, which orchestrated Indian music, and the ‘Shankar Family Album’ presented by former Beatle George Harrison. She even rejoined Uday Shankar’s troupe in 1962 for a tour of the US, Europe and the former Soviet Union - this time as singer and conductor of the orchestra. She has sung for nephew Sachin Shankar’s ballets, and toured worldwide with Ravi Shankar’s ensemble.
After husband Rajendra Shankar passed away, Lakshmiji has been dividing her time between India and the US. Some years ago, she lost her talented daughter Vijayasree prematurely. When in Chennai, she stays with sister Kamala.
Though a Hindustani musician of high quality, completely at home in the company of great artistes of the world, Lakshmi Shankar has remained a simple south Indian lady. Ever considerate and concerned about the people around them, Lakshmi and Kamala have both retained a youthful enthusiasm for the simple pleasures of life, like watching a good movie on television or following the complex fortunes of the characters of soap operas. They have a nice sense of humour too. (Dismayed by the lack of appreciation of the nuances of Hindustani music in the captive audience of a wedding concert she had unwittingly accepted some years ago, Lakshmi Shankar was laughing all the way home after the failure of the audio system forced the abandonment of the concert). Lakshmi Shankar is without doubt a role model for young musicians.
V Ramnarayan
vramnarayan@gmail.com
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