Hindustani Classical Guitar Recital - by Smt. Kamala Shankar

One of the great things about living here in Manipal is that one gets a chance to attend various cultural programs regularly. It’s no surprise then, that an international organization such as SPIC-MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Among Youth) is quite active here, even though not at a full-fledged level yet. They organize two or three classical music concerts around this time each year, under their Virasat programme, bringing some highly acclaimed musical maestros to the Manipal campus.

It was my good fortune then, to savor a delectable classical guitar recital by the famed Smt. Kamala Shankar this evening. And what was even more endearing was the realization that even though she belongs to a South Indian family (born in Tanjore district of Tamilnadu), she chose to learn Hindustani classical music, and that too from an exponent of khayal gayaki, Pt. Channoolal Mishra of Benaras! Now having a soft spot for all things coming from Benaras – or Varanasi, to be politically correct! – it felt like the icing on the cake to me!! She went on to study under the sitar maestro Bimalendu Mukherjee (of Imdadkhani Gharana), and the rest, as they say, is history...

What I was treated to this evening then, was over an hour of simply mesmerizing music ... the sound was quite different from what one would expect from a Hawaiian guitar, but then it wasn’t really a Hawaiian one in its true sense – the memorable performance was delivered on her self-improvised Shankar Guitar, a modified version of the Hawaiian guitar … and I suspect that not one person present there would have felt even for an instant that it was an instrumental recital! Indeed, it almost seemed as if the unique instrument itself had come alive when placed in her hands, and started singing! No wonder, the maestro had started her training learning classical vocal, and it was only later that she took up the guitar on the insistence of her Gurus while moving ahead in her musical journey. Makes sense then, that this talented musician has developed the Shankar Guitar as a singing instrument and uses the celebrated "gayaki ang" with "Imdadkhani-baj" to display her range of Hindustani classical music.

The small but eager crowd sat enthralled for over an hour (…wish it had been longer!) by four beautiful compositions in various ragas and taals, that culminated in a Benarasi Dadra, a playful Holi number, that was so reminiscent of the fun-filled sentiments typical of the festival of colors celebrated with a flair that is characteristic of Benaras… In all, an unforgettable performance!!

A little co-incidence here, was that the now-famed musician happens to be the daughter of a famous Ayurvedic Physician of Benaras – known simply as Dr. Shankar – and what’s more, the renowned doctor (and his prodigal daughter) is personally known to my folks as a family doctor and a family friend!! This, I got to know only after the recital, after I told my father that I attended it!! Small world, isn’t it?? :-)