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Sister-in-law to Ravi Shankar, mother-in-law to L. Subramaniam, Lakshmi Shankar is a remarkable singer. As a young girl she fell under the spell of dance and, encouraged by her forward-thinking mother, she studied Bharat Natyam dancing. She married the scriptwriter Rajendra Shankar, an elder brother of Ravi Shankar, and joined Uday Shankar's artistic circle during the early '40s. Ill-health forced her to give up dancing but, for us, this had the joyful effect of catalyzing her singing career. Around 1946-47 she worked on the historic adaptation of Pandit Nehru's Discovery of India, a work that prompted Nehru to say, "The ballet's better than my book." In the 1960s she recorded an album called The Voice of Lakshmi Shankar for World Pacific. Since then she has recorded widely in varying capacities and styles including Tamil folk songs, Hindu devotional songs of all sorts, film work (including the soundtrack to Gandhi) and for television documentaries. Her work appears on many labels including EMI India and RCA.
from Wikipedia:
Lakshmi Shankar (born 1926) is a Hindustani classical vocalist of the Patiala Gharana. She is known for her performances of khyal, thumri, and bhajans.
Born in 1926, Lakshmi started her career in dancing. In 1939, when Uday Shankar brought his dance troupe to Madras, (recently renamed Chennai), she joined the Almora Centre to learn Uday Shankar’s dance style based on the Indian classics, and became a part of his troupe. She later married Uday Shankar's brother, Rajendra (with nickname Raju).
During a period of illness, Lakshmi had to give up dancing, and already having had a background of Carnatic music, she undertook learning Hindustani classical music for many years under Ustad Abdul Rehman Khan. Later, she also trained with Ravi Shankar, the sitar maestro.
Shankar toured America with Ravi Shankar and George Harrison in 1974. After Ravi Shankar's heart attack she conducted his touring band.
Lakshmi has shown her versatility and adaptability by composing music for Bharatanatyam for the leading dance company Shakti School of Bharatanatyam located in Los Angeles.
