The Egg Presents: L. Shankar ft. Amit Kavthekar

Opening performance by Vinay Desai (Santoor) & Anubrata Chatterjee (Tabla)

L. Shankar is a groundbreaking, Indian classical, pop and jazz violinist and vocalist, and co-founder of the legendary jazz ensemble Shakti. Joining Shankar is Amit Kavthekar on tabla.

L. Shankar (Shenkar) is widely considered a living legend, a pioneer and a musical genius by his peers who hold him in the highest esteem. As a prolific international touring artist, he has released 28 solo albums and has worked on soundtracks for award-winning films, documentaries & TV series. With a career spanning decades, Shankar has sold over 100 million albums and has earned international acclaim through his award-winning solo projects and collaborations with industry icons & esteemed musicians worldwide.

Since playing his first solo concert at the age of seven, L. Shankar has gone on to accompany many of South India’s leading vocalists and became a major soloist of Indian classical music. In 1970’s, after arriving in the USA, Shankar started to play and record with jazz musicians such as Archie Shepp and Clifford Thornton. In 1973 Shankar and jazz guitarist John McLaughlin co-founded Shakti and wrote all of their music together. The legendary “Indo-jazz” supergroup was rounded out with Shankar’s uncle and percussionist Ramnad Raghavan and a young Zakir Hussain. Ghatam player Vikku Vinayakram replaced Raghavan for their first world tour and following albums and their pioneering collaborations are now considered to be the early foundations of “World Music” or “Global Jazz”.

In the 1980s, Shankar specially created a 10-string, double neck, electric violin capable of covering the whole range of the orchestra’s string section from violin to double bass and his unique playing style has led to many legendary recordings and touring collaborations with pop and rock artists such as Peter Gabriel, Frank Zappa, Lou Reed, and Stewart Copeland to name a few. His violin work is featured on hit songs such as “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins, “Rise” by Public Image Limited, “Making Flippy Flappy” by Talking Heads and many songs by Peter Gabriel, a longtime collaborator. Shankar also co-wrote the Grammy nominated soundtrack ‘Passion’ for the Martin Scorsese film ‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ with Gabriel and he has gone onto work on many other award winning film and TV soundtracks and scores.

Outside his work on film, pop, rock and jazz music, Shankar has continued to expand international audiences for Indian classical music, often combining North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) styles. He has released over 25 albums to date including 7 full length albums on the famed ECM record label which have become benchmark recordings of Indian classical music. In 2024 he released two world music albums alone, ‘Over The Stars’ in August with fellow past Shakti member Vikku Vinyakram, along with V. Selvaganesh and Swaminathan Selvaganesh and also ‘Full Moon’ in September with tabla player Abhijit Banerjee and reaching number #3 on the World Music Charts Europe.

Vinay Desai
Vinay is a direct disciple of the world renowned Santoor Maestro Padma Vibhusan Pandit Shivkumar Sharmaji. After completing his college in both Pre-pharmaceutical science as well as Pre-Law in Delaware, Vinay sought out to learn Santoor in India. Having had some background training in tabla and vocal, in 2011, Pandit Shivkumar Sharmaji guided Vinay to begin his training under Takahiro Arai and Kunal Gunjal, before being accepted by Panditji himself. Vinay regularly performs throughout USA, including Hawaii, Argentina, Canada, The Bahamas, Australia, and India. He has performed for some of the well known organizations and prestigious festivals in different countries including Fringe Festival in Adelaide, Mona Foma in Tasmania, Lollapalooza Festival in Argentina (Vinay was one of the first Santoor players to play in an orchestra in Argentina), Festival of Tabla in L.A., KBF Festival in Arizona, Kussum Mahotsav TSA in NJ, Darpan in Texas, Jaipur Literature Festival, SwarZankar in Pune, Hamsadhwani, Matra in Kolkata, Starglam Entertainment in Canada, among many others. Though specializing in Indian Classical Music, Vinay has worked with all genres with shows of Bollywood music, Hollywood music, Theater and drama music, Jazz, and western Classical. He is known for his meditative and dynamic musical phrases. His devotion to the purity and the depth of Shivkumar Sharma’s style comes forth in performance. Vinay continues to spread his Guru’s work not only through performances, but also teaching and lecturing at different places. He has performed with legends including Ustad Tari khan, Ustad Sukhvinder Singh Pinky. and some of the most glamorous upcoming Tabla players. The concert will begin with a meditative melodic improvisation that takes the listeners to a place of deep stillness. Once the mood of the raag is set and the ambience built, the tabla player will join Vinay in creating powerful rhythmic phrases that take the listeners on a melodic and rhythmic journey. The concert usually ends with a fast paced piece that enthralls the audience. Usually, this classical piece can last for about 1 hour and 15 minutes followed by a semi classical devotional piece. Vinay is known for his superlative melodic improvisations and sharp sense of rhythm. With a tabla player, they have an astonishing ability to embrace, dive into and reinterpret traditional music.

Anubrata Chatterjee
An outstanding tabla player from the Farukhabad Gharana, Anubrata is the son of the great tabla maestro Pandit Anindo Chatterjee. At a young age, he started his formal training in tabla as one of the youngest and the last ‘Ganda-bandh’ disciple of the legendary guru Padmabhushan Jnan Prakash Ghosh. With a focus on Farukhabad Gharana and the styles from Lucknow and Arjada Gharana, Anubrata continued to train under his illustrious father, Pandit Anindo Ji. Since his debut concert with the maestro Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia as an accompanying artist, Anubrata has accompanied all the legendary classical musicians from India, including Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Ustad Shahid Parvez, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Pandit Birju Maharaj and many eminent musicians and artists from all over the world.

With his dexterity, grace, and unmatched tonal quality, Anubrata has not only taken his father’s legacy forward but also developed his own identity. He is an artist who has great depth from his deeply ingrained traditional style of tabla style and is also keenly interested in contemporary projects that appeal to the younger generation. His collaborations with various fusion bands have given him numerous opportunities to share the stage with well-known artists like Shankar Mahadevan, Ranjit Barot, Rahim al Haj, the famous oud player from Iraq, and many more.

This show is part of The Egg’s Resonance Series, curated by Arun Ramamurthy.