
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Master violinist/vocalist/composer L. Shankar (aka Shenkar) has spent the past four decades developing a personal style that ranges from strict Indian classical music to Western instrumental pop although usually he lands somewhere in the middle. Since playing his first solo concert at the age of seven, he has gone on to accompany many of South India’s leading vocalists and become a major soloist. Schooled in voice, violin, and the drums, he has composed new ragas and folk songs, and played with countless other master musicians. In the 1970s, with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Vikku Vinayakram, and Ramnad Raghavan, he co-founded the legendary Indo-jazz group Shakti. In the 1980s, he introduced a custom-made 10-string double violin capable of covering the whole range of the orchestra’s string section from violin to double bass. He has collaborated with Frank Zappa and Peter Gabriel and has continued to expand the international audience for Indian music, often combining North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) styles, (Robert Browning Associates program notes, 2022). L. Shankar performs original works, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Ananda Nadamadum Tillaj Sankara 2. Ganapathiye Varuvaai 3. Shamudu
By WNYC Studios4.5
138138 ratings
Master violinist/vocalist/composer L. Shankar (aka Shenkar) has spent the past four decades developing a personal style that ranges from strict Indian classical music to Western instrumental pop although usually he lands somewhere in the middle. Since playing his first solo concert at the age of seven, he has gone on to accompany many of South India’s leading vocalists and become a major soloist. Schooled in voice, violin, and the drums, he has composed new ragas and folk songs, and played with countless other master musicians. In the 1970s, with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Vikku Vinayakram, and Ramnad Raghavan, he co-founded the legendary Indo-jazz group Shakti. In the 1980s, he introduced a custom-made 10-string double violin capable of covering the whole range of the orchestra’s string section from violin to double bass. He has collaborated with Frank Zappa and Peter Gabriel and has continued to expand the international audience for Indian music, often combining North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) styles, (Robert Browning Associates program notes, 2022). L. Shankar performs original works, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Ananda Nadamadum Tillaj Sankara 2. Ganapathiye Varuvaai 3. Shamudu

43,837 Listeners

38,430 Listeners

6,881 Listeners

6,007 Listeners

9,238 Listeners

4,113 Listeners

5,825 Listeners

4,022 Listeners

1,576 Listeners

3,152 Listeners

1,973 Listeners

7,718 Listeners

14,450 Listeners

6,467 Listeners

16,653 Listeners

4,120 Listeners

16,512 Listeners

16,405 Listeners

1,183 Listeners

16,525 Listeners

663 Listeners