Lakshminarayana Shankar (born 26 April 1950), better known as L. Shankar, Shankar and Shenkar, is an Indian

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, singer and composer.

Early life, family and education

Shankar was born in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, India, and raised in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(current-day Sri Lanka), where his father V. Lakshminarayana, a violinist and singer, worked as a teacher at the

Jaffna Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th most ...

College of Music. He learned to play the violin and first performed in public in a Ceylonese temple at the age of seven. In 1969, he went to the United States, where he studied

ethnomusicology Ethnomusicology is the study of music from the cultural and social aspects of the people who make it. It encompasses distinct theoretical and methodical approaches that emphasize cultural, social, material, cognitive, biological, and other dim ...

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

Career

After performing with various Indian singers for several years, Shankar founded a trio with his brothers, L. Vaidyanathan and L. Subramaniam, that performed throughout India. While attending college at Wesleyan University, he met jazz musicians like

Ornette Coleman Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman (March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015) was an American jazz saxophonist, violinist, trumpeter, and composer known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album '' Free Jazz: A Colle ...

Jimmy Garrison James Emory Garrison (March 3, 1934 – April 7, 1976) was an American jazz double bassist. He is best remembered for his association with John Coltrane from 1961 to 1967. Career Garrison was raised in both Miami and Philadelphia where he l ...

, and

John McLaughlin John or Jon McLaughlin may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John McLaughlin (musician) (born 1942), English jazz fusion guitarist, member of Mahavishnu Orchestra * Jon McLaughlin (musician) (born 1982), American singer-songwriter * John McLaugh ...

. With McLaughlin, Shankar founded the group

Shakti In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...

in 1975, one of the early groups in which Eastern and Western musical traditions met. They released three albums: ''

'' (1975), ''

A Handful of Beauty ''A Handful of Beauty'' is the second studio album released by the world fusion band Shakti in 1976. Track listing # "La Danse du Bonheur" (John McLaughlin, Lakshminarayana Shankar) – 4:48 # "Lady L" (Shankar) – 7:23 # "India" ...

'' (1976), and '' Natural Elements'' (1977). After the band dissolved, Shankar was a violinist with

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

for a short time, and then founded the group The Epidemics and released a number of albums as a band leader. With

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and activist. He rose to fame as the original lead singer of the progressive rock band Genesis. After leaving Genesis in 1975, he launched ...

, he wrote the soundtrack for the film '' The Last Temptation of Christ'' (1989), for which he received a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

. In the following years, Shankar worked on several of Gabriel's albums. Since 1996, he has been working with the violinist

Gingger Shankar Gingger Shankar is an American singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist. She has scored several films, including '' Circumstance''. Early life Shankar was born in Los Angeles, California and raised there and in India. She is the eldest daugh ...

(she is his brother's daughter) as the duo Shankar & Gingger. Shankar has also performed with

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

Phil Collins Philip David Charles Collins (born 30 January 1951) is an English singer, musician, songwriter, record producer and actor. He was the drummer and lead singer of the rock band Genesis and also has a career as a solo performer. Between 1982 and ...

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

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Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

John Waite John Charles Waite (born 4 July 1952) is an English musician. As a solo artist, he has released ten studio albums and is best known for the 1984 hit single " Missing You", which reached No. 1 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the top ten on ...

Charly García Charly García (born Carlos Alberto García, October 23, 1951) is an Argentine singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. He formed and headlined two of the most popular bands in Argentina's rock history: Sui Generis in the 1970s and Se ...

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

Nils Lofgren Nils Hilmer Lofgren (born June 21, 1951) is an American rock musician, recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Along with his work as a solo artist, he has been a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band since 1984, a membe ...

Jonathan Davis Jonathan Howsmon Davis (born January 18, 1971), also known as JD or JDevil, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and frontman of nu metal band Korn, who are considered a pioneering act of the ...

and The SFA and

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

Discography

* ''

'', with

(1975) * ''

'', with Shakti (1976) * '' Natural Elements'', with Shakti (1977) * '' Touch Me There'' (1979) * ''

Who's to Know ''Who's to Know'' is the second studio album by violinist Shankar recorded in 1980 and released on the ECM label.

'' (1980) * ''

Vision Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to: Perception Optical perception * Visual perception, the sense of sight * Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight * Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain un ...

'' (1983) * '' Song for Everyone'' (1985) * '' The Epidemics'' (1986) * ''Evening Concert'' (1986) * ''Do What You Do (''1986'') '' * ''Eye Catcher (''1987'') '' * ''Pancha Nadai Pallavi'' (1989) * ''M.R.C.S'' (1989) * ''Nobody Told Me'' (1990) * ''Soul Searcher'' (1990) * ''

Raga Aberi ''Raga Aberi'' is an album by the Indian musician L. Shankar, released in 1995. He is credited with Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award, in the "Best World Music Album" category. Production Produced by S ...

'' (1995) * ''Enlightenment (''1999'') '' * ''Live in London, Vol. 1'' (2000) * ''Eternal Light'' (2000) * ''One in a Million'', with

(2001) * ''Celestial Body'' (2004) * ''Open the Door'' (2007) * ''In a Box'' (2012) * ''The Revelation'' (2013) * ''Champion'' (2014) * ''Transcend'' (2015) * ''Face to Face'' (2019) * ''Chepleeri Dream'' (2020) * ''Christmas from India'' (2021)

Filmography

* ''Bombay Jazz'' (1992, documentary) * ''

Secret World Live ''Secret World Live'' is the second live album and tenth album overall by the English rock musician Peter Gabriel, released on 30 August 1994 in the UK. The album documents the concert experience of the Secret World Tour. A concert film of t ...

'' (1994) (violin, backing vocals) * Queen of the damned (film) (2002) (Violin) * ''

Heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

'' (2006–2009, TV series) (vocals)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shankar, L. 1950 births Carnatic violinists Indian male composers Indian violinists Jazz fusion musicians Living people Tamil musicians Wesleyan University alumni ECM Records artists Indian rock musicians 20th-century Indian composers 21st-century violinists 20th-century male musicians 21st-century male musicians Jonathan Davis and the SFA members Shakti (band) members SXL (band) members