Kamala Chakravarty (born Saraswati Kamala Shastri, 1928) is an Indian classical musician and former dancer, known for her association with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. From 1967 until the late 1970s, she accompanied Shankar, in the role of tanpura player and singer, in a number of acclaimed performances, including the Monterey International Pop Festival (1967), his Human Rights Day duet with violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1967), the Concert for Bangladesh (1971) and the Music Festival from India (1974). She lived with Shankar as his "wife" from 1967 to 1981, while he was still married to musician and teacher Annapurna Devi.
While in her teens, Chakravarty trained and performed with Uday Shankar's dance company. She is the younger sister of noted Hindustani classical vocalist Lakshmi Shankar. She was married to Bombay film director Amiya Chakravarty from 1945 until Amiya's death in 1957.
Biography Early years and participation in Uday Shankar's dance company Kamala Chakravarty was born in Madras, south India, in 1928. Her father was R.V. Shastri, editor of Mahatma Gandhi's reformist newspaper Harijan. Along with her elder sister, Lakshmi Shastri, she studied at dance pioneer Uday Shankar's India Culture Centre,Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 91, 95, 105. an academy based at Almora, in the remote north Indian state of Uttarakhand.Sunil Kothari, "Exhibition – Celebrating Creativity: Life & Work of Uday Shankar" , IGNCA (retrieved 4 December 2013). Her teachers in the various classical dance traditions included Sankaran Namboodri (for Kathakali), Kandappan Pillai (Bharata Natyam) and Amobi Sinha (Manipuri).Shankar, Raga Mala, p. 95.Massey, p. 223.
At Almora in 1941, Chakravarty attended the wedding of Lakshmi, then aged fifteen, to Uday's brother Rajendra, where she met the youngest of the Shankar brothers, the future sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar. The latter recalls in his second autobiography, Raga Mala (1997), that Chakravarty was known as Saraswati Shastri at this time and only later began using Kamala as her first name.Shankar, Raga Mala, p. 105.
Bombay and marriage to Amiya Chakravarty The economic effects of World War II forced the academy's closure in 1944,Shankar, My Music, My Life, pp. 74–75, 86. after which Chakravarty moved to Calcutta and then joined her sister and brothers-in-law in Malad, near Bombay.Extract from Swapan Kumar Bondyopadhyay, An Unheard Melody: Annapurna Devi, mid-day.com, 15 May 2005 (retrieved 4 December 2013). There, Rajendra worked as a scriptwriter,World Music: The Rough Guide, p. 92.Suresh Kohli, "Patita (1953)", The Hindu, 6 July 2012 (retrieved 4 December 2013). and Ravi tried to establish himself as a musician and composer.Lavezzoli, p. 54. In 2012, The Times of India wrote of Ravi Shankar, his wife Annapurna Devi and the Shastri sisters as "more or less contemporaries with a burning interest in music and dance".Ratnottama Sengupta, "Pandit Ravi Shankar: Music was his universe, his love, his weakness", The Times of India, 16 December 2012 (retrieved 4 December 2013).
A physical attraction grew between Shankar and Chakravarty, causing his family to hastily arrange a marriage between her and Bombay film director Amiya Chakravarty.Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 105–06. After the wedding in September 1945, Chakravarty's professional ambitions were sidelined, while Shankar relocated to Andheri.
International years with Ravi Shankar
Following Amiya Chakravarty's death in 1957, Shankar and Chakravarty renewed their relationship.Shankar, Raga Mala, p. 157.David Wilson & Siddharth Philip, "Beatles Muse Ravi Shankar, Father of Norah Jones, Dies", Bloomberg.com, 12 December 2012 (retrieved 8 December 2013). She helped run his Kinnara School of Music from 1963 onwards,Shankar, Raga Mala, p. 175. and after Shankar left Devi in 1967, they lived together until 1981, for much of the time in the United States.Priyanka Dasgupta, Purba Dutt & Nona Walia, "Meet India's bohemian lovers", The Times of India, 18 February 2012 (retrieved 4 December 2013).
Chakravarty accompanied Shankar, on tanpura or as a singer, on several of his recordings and international performances.Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 203, 220.In Celebration, p. 29. These included his warmly received set with tabla player Alla Rakha at the Monterey International Pop Festival, in June 1967,Sleeve credits, Live: Ravi Shankar at the Monterey International Pop Festival LP (World Pacific Records, 1967).In Celebration, pp. 28–29. the live album from which remains Shankar's highest-charting work on the Billboard pop albums chart.Phil Gallo, "Ravi Shankar's Impact on Pop Music: An Appreciation", billboard.com, 12 December 2012 (retrieved 22 August 2015)."Ravi Shankar: Awards", AllMusic (retrieved 22 August 2015). In December that year, she and Rakha accompanied Shankar and American violinist Yehudi Menuhin during their Human Rights Day duet in New York,Shankar, My Music, My Life, p. 96.Timothy White, "Ravi Shankar: Gala 75th For The Godfather Of World Music (continued)", Billboard, 18 March 1995, p. 75 (retrieved 8 May 2018). which was the first recital of Indian classical music to be broadcast globally.Lavezzoli, pp. 7–8, 63. Chakravarty subsequently contributed to the recording of the same piece, "Raga Piloo", for Menuhin and Shankar's album West Meets East, Volume 2 (1968).Sleeve credits, West Meets East, Volume 2 LP (His Master's Voice, 1968).
Also over 1967–68, she participated in filming for the Raga documentary (1971), appearing in footage of Shankar's performances from the periodJeff Kaliss, "Ravi Shankar Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India", Songlines, 26 November 2010, p. 85 (archived version retrieved 10 July 2011). and as his companion in off-stage scenes filmed at the Monterey festival and (with Lakshmi) at the Los Angeles branch of his Kinnara School.Raga: A Film Journey into the Soul of India DVD, East Meets West/Apple Films, 2010 (produced and directed by Howard Worth; reissue produced by Shyama Priya & Cat Celebrezze). Among other Shankar albums, she plays tambura on In San Francisco (1967)"Ravi Shankar – In San Francisco CD Album" > "Product Description", CD Universe/Muze (retrieved 29 August 2015). and Transmigration Macabre (1973), a soundtrack recorded in 1968 with French experimental percussionists Les Structures SonoresShankar, Raga Mala, pp. 203, 324. for the art film Viola.Richie Unterberger, "Ravi Shankar Transmigration Macabre: Music from the Film Viola", AllMusic (retrieved 29 August 2015). Later in 1968, she, Lakshmi and Jitendra Abhisheki were the singers in Shankar's Festival from India ensemble,Sleeve credits, Ravi Shankar's Festival from India LP (World Pacific Records, 1968). which recorded an eponymous double album in Los Angeles before touring the United States.Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 203–04, 324.
In August 1971, Chakravarty accompanied Shankar, sarod master Ali Akbar Khan and Rakha at the Concert for Bangladesh, held at New York's Madison Square Garden.Lavezzoli, pp. 190–91. The success of the resulting live album and concert film gained Indian music its largest audience up to that point.Lavezzoli, p. 194. Although she provided a minor role in the performance, as the tambura player,Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 265–66. George Harrison's introduction of Chakravarty to the New York audience ensured that her name became linked to the event.John Pidgeon, "Bangla Desh", NME, 15 July 1972, p. 24; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 5 December 2013).
In 1973, Chakravarty was among the chorus singers at the Los Angeles sessions for Shankar's genre-fusing album Shankar Family & Friends (1974).Leng, p. 138. The album was produced by Harrison and featured Lakshmi as lead vocalist and Shubho Shankar (Shankar's son by Devi) on sitar.Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 139, 205–06.Lavezzoli, pp. 52–53, 195. In 1974, Chakravarty, Lakshmi and the latter's daughterShankar, Raga Mala, p. 224. Viji performed in Europe as part of Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India,Collaborations, pp. 44–50. the first Indian orchestra to play in Europe.Leng, p. 148. Her contributions, on tambura and as a backing singer, also appeared on the Music Festival's studio album,Album credits, Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from India LP (Dark Horse Records, 1976; produced by George Harrison).In Celebration, pp. 39, 46. recorded in England at Harrison's Friar Park and released in 1976.Collaborations, p. 15. That same year, Chakravarty participated in the recording of the third volume of Shankar and Menuhin's West Meets East series, issued in 1977.Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 184, 324. The album included "Morning Love", featuring Shankar and French flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal backed by Rakha and ChakravartyIn Celebration, p. 44. – a piece that Shankar later named as a favourite among his various collaborative works.Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 184–84.
Subsequent relationship with the Shankar family By the time that Annapoorna finally granted Shankar a divorce in 1982, he and Chakravarty had split up. Having nursed Uday in the weeks before his death in September 1977 and similarly cared for Shubho after the latter had attempted suicide in 1970, she remained a close friend of the musician's extended family.Shankar, Raga Mala, pp. 232, 260, 269. According to Shankar in Raga Mala, Chakravarty accepted and was welcoming towards his second wife, Sukanya, and their daughter, Anoushka.Shankar, Raga Mala, p. 269.
References
Sources
Harry Castleman & Walter J. Podrazik, All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961–1975, Ballantine Books (New York, NY, 1976; ). Collaborations, book accompanying Ravi Shankar–George Harrison Collaborations box set (Dark Horse Records, 2010; produced by Olivia Harrison; package design by Drew Lorimer & Olivia Harrison). In Celebration, booklet accompanying Ravi Shankar: In Celebration box set (Angel/Dark Horse, 1995; produced by George Harrison & Alan Kozlowski; package design by Rick Ward/The Team Design Consultants). Peter Lavezzoli, The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, Continuum (New York, NY, 2006; ). Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006; ). Reginald Massey, India's Dances: Their History, Technique, and Repertoire, Abhinav Publications (New Delhi, NCT, 2004; ). Ravi Shankar, My Music, My Life, Mandala Publishing (San Rafael, CA, 2007; ). Ravi Shankar, Raga Mala: The Autobiography of Ravi Shankar, Welcome Rain (New York, NY, 1999; ). World Music: The Rough Guide (Volume 2: Latin and North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific), Rough Guides/Penguin (London, 2000; ).