New book chronicles the journey of Indian music to the West through Lakshmi Shankar, India’s first female Grammy nominated vocalist | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

New book chronicles the journey of Indian music to the West through Lakshmi Shankar, India’s first female Grammy nominated vocalist | Lifestyle News, The Indian Express

Written by Suanshu Khurana |Updated: June 17, 2019 3:04:53 pm

New book chronicles the journey of Indian music to the West through Lakshmi Shankar, India’s first female Grammy nominated vocalist

But more than that Grammy that registered her presence in 2009, for Lakshmi, it was giving voice to one of Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajans, Vaishnav jan toh, for Richard Attenburgh’s Gandhi that remained special.

Lakshmi Shankar in a still from the 1947 film Bhakta Tulsidas (Photos courtesy: Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar)

In the album Dancing in the Light (World Village, 2008), 83-year-old Hindustani classical singer Lakshmi Shankar can be heard navigating the depths of Hindustani classical music through five pieces — a khayal in raag Puryadhanashree, two thumris and two Meera bhajans. The voice is mature, quite dazzling at straight notes, hitting them with a rousing elan in rhythmic precision. Sometimes, the same voice is slightly insipid and also a reminder of other, sometimes better, renditions. But Dancing in the Night has to its credit what many don’t — a Grammy nomination in 2009 for the Best World Music Album (Traditional).