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We are thrilled to announce the Library’s archival recording of Grammy-nominated Hindustani classical singer Lakshmi Shankar’s October 17th, 1968 performance at CCNY has been digitized and made available for research online. The recording is available on the Library’s YouTube page.
The recording captures Shankar somewhat early in her career, one year before the release of her debut album. Shankar is accompanied by two American musicians including Collin Walcott performing on pakhavaj. The performance—lasting over 50 minutes—is comprised of four pieces: a khyāl, thumri, a kriti and a bhajan.
Biographer Kavita Das calls Lakshmi Shankar “the leading Hindustani female singer in the movement that brought Indian music to the West” [1]. 25 years before she sang for the epic Gandhi soundtrack, and six years before her landmark collaboration with George Harrison for his Dark Horse tour, Lakshmi Shankar played a concert of Hindustani classical and Carnatic music at City College.
The concert was organized by Professor Elise Barnett and the CCNY Music Department. The concert was recorded onto a single ¼” reel-to-reel tape by Barnett and later donated to the Library. The tape was digitized in the spring of 2020.
CCNY Libraries sincerely thanks Kumar Shankar and the estate of Lakshmi Shankar for giving us permission to share the recording publicly.
Above photo taken by Elise Barnett during the October 17th, 1968 concert at CCNY; pictured (left to right) are Collin Walcott, Lakshmi Shankar and an unidentified tamboura player. This photo is part of the Elise Barnett archives held at the Music Library.
[1] Das, Kavita. Poignant Song: The Life and Music of Lakshmi Shankar. India: Harper India, 2019.
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