She is a multitalented woman, and beautiful even in her seventies. Lakshmi Shankar has seen and done it all, from classical dance, to film singing to classical vocal music and excelling at it all. Married to Pundit Ravi Shankar’s brother Rajendra, Lakshmi Shankar shares memories of a life lived in enrichment and of singing her way into the hearts of millions all over the world for over 50 years.
You always had this flair for singing, then how did you manage to become a classical dancer instead?
As a child I very was interested in music. My brother was learning the violin and Carnatic music and I would pick up everything quickly but when the time came for me to learn a classical art form my mother became very fascinated with Bharatnatyam and wanted me to learn the dance even though it was not as popular as it is now. She said you can sing anytime but to learn dancing you have to start early. I started learning at 8 and had my arangetram at 12. That was the basic foundation of my entire life and then I went to Uday Shankar’s culture center and became a staff member and dancer and learnt all the other styles of dances like Manipuri, Kathakali and Uday Shankar’s’ own style plus how to create ballet and other movements. Both Ravi Shankar and I were together in Uday’s troupe as dancers. It was a fantastic experience. Uday Shankar was a genius and a great showman. His thoughts and creations even in music have helped me all through my life.
How did the switch to vocal music occur?
Ravi ji and my husband wrote the script and produced a ballet based on “the Discovery of India. I was only 20 then and soon after fell very sick and was told I can never dance again. I took a couple of years off and then decided to sing. I started with play back singing and once was singing a duet with Mohammed Rafi for a film called Mastana when music director Madan Mohan heard me and said that I should learn Hindustani classical music, as my voice was ideally suited for it. Ravi Shankar had been telling me the same thing so I said to Madan ji fine find me a guru and he did within ten days. He came over with Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan who sang something and I knew he was the one I was waiting for. In 1964 I was learning from scratch and practiced 10 hours daily. The rhythm and swara in Hindustani and Carnatic music are the same, but the tala system in very different . Yet within 3 years my Guru made me sing at a concert.
Tell me about the special memories that stand out in your tours with Ravi ji and Uday Shankar and where do you enjoy performing in the States?
My first performance outside India was in 1962. I came with Uday Shankar as his music director and he made me sing a separate bhajan solo for 7 minutes. In1968 I came with Ravi ji for the festival of India. We toured coast to coast for a lot of concerts and at that time the audience had just started getting hooked on instrumental music. They had not heard much vocal music. So Ravi ji told me to sing short pieces and initially I’d shorten a khayal rendition to a mere 20 minutes. That was all people could take at the time. Now after 30 years I see a change and that people can hear a long rendition of over an hour and still enjoy it. They were mainly westerners and there were not that many Indians living here at that time.
We also went on a European tour where we did a lot of house concerts at the homes of Indian people, the bigger ones were at places like royal Albert hall. I started doing solo concerts in Europe with France being the main target. The French were very artistic and that was where my singing was the greatest success. In a hall for 2000 people within a week of announcement tickets would be sold out and only 200 people would be Indian.
Performing for 2000 people was initially tough because we were used to instant wah wah in mehfils and here you are in a huge hall with a quiet audience and you don’t know how they are responding. The biggest tour was the George Harrison tour in 1974. We did 45 shows in 52 days. The sound system sucked. We performed for 20-30,000 people and Indian music is not meant for it.
There is no doubt about it I love the mehfil style of singing. Things have changed though. Even in India a few years back there was a big void in the audience because the younger generation was not interested in listening. Now it has improved slightly so the audience is bigger but I doubt if there is the same impact. In the old days we started at 9 p.m. and sang till 3.30 a.m. Now no one has the stamina for that. We had two 9-hour concerts in France though and people sat through them. Here I really enjoy performing in San Francisco maybe because of Ali Akbar Khan’s music school, the audience is very well versed in the classical music of India and ready to listen.
What are the problems that a classical vocalist may face in generating an audience abroad?
It’s easier to understand instrumental music and enjoy it but in vocal music dhrupad and khayal are heavy and have a limited audience though there are some places where people enjoy them. I also sing thumris and bhajans and they always go down well with the audience everwhere. I gave a complete bhajan program in a church in Paris and it was fabulous the way they responded