THIS IS A RARE AND USED ITEM. IT IS NOT MANUFACTURED ANYMORE. NO RETURNS WILL BE ACCEPTED

A star dancer in the ‘Discovery of India’ ballet in the ‘40s, Lakshmi Shankar switched over, at a young age from Bharat Natyam to classical vocal music since she was also gifted with a rich and sonorous voice. Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan of Patiala gharana groomed her and she soon made the grade. Year after year her progress continued and today she is ranked very high amongst the contemporary vocalists. Her voice with an amazing range, moves through a gamut of three full octaves with complete east. Her expositions of Khayals are chaste and renderings of Thumris with intricate twists, curves and flourishes are extremely melodious to listen to. Her Bhajans are imbibed with intense devotional fervor and are poignant and appealing. She is thus versatile with an intelligent approach to the art.

Widely travelled all over Europe and USA along with maestros Uday Shankar and Ravi Shankar, she has won a large following.

THE MUSIC

SIDE ONE: Raga Madhu Kauns

The artiste has given an elaborate treatment to this night raga, by rendering a Vilambit Khayal, a Drut Khayal and a Tarana on this side. The Vilambit composition is set in Jhumra Taal (14 beats), the Drut and the Tarana age in Teen Taal (16 beats). Madhu Kauns has a pentatonic scale omitting the second and the sixth notes and using a flat third an augmented fourth and flat seventh.

SIDE TWO: Raga Kirwani Thumri and Bhajan

This side has three items. The first is a crisp exposition of raga Kirwani. Both the compositions – the one in Ek Taal followed by the one in Teen Taal – are creations of maestro Ravi Shankar. Kirwani belongs to Carnatic system of South India. It is a raga with a complete scale using all notes where the third and the sixth are flats. 

The second one is lilting Thumri in Mishra Shivranjini and confined to Keherwa Taal (4 beats). The contents depict the pangs of separation of a young maiden for her beloved. The concluding piece is a Bhajan set to the beautiful evening melody ‘Marwa’ and is confided to Rupak Taal (7 beats).

Artists: 

Lakshmi Shankar (Vocal), Vasanti Mhapsekar (Harmonium), Bhaskar Tiwaskar (Tabla)