New Delhi, June 23, 2005
The only female surbahar player in the country, Annapurna Devi, is a musician in her own right. Yet few have listened to her, thanks to "jealous" husband, Pt Ravi Shankar, who did not allow her to sing in public, a new book reveals.
"... Ravi was justifiably jealous. And so he elicited a vow from his (first) wife that she would no longer play in public," says the first authorised biography of Annapurna Devi, a legend, who has led a reclusive life and stayed away from public performances for several years. "There are many versions of this anecdote afloat, mostly apocryphal. Annapurna, however, told me that something worse had happened than Ravi attempting to make her take this oath. But she added that she would divulge it to none...," says author Swapan Kumar Bandhopadhyay, in the book 'An Unheard Melody: Annapurna Devi, An Authorised Biography.' Bandhopadhyay, one of her disciples, says this was bound to happen "if the husband and wife share the same profession. It is the male ego. For Ravi Shankar, it was worse. He was ambitious and ego-centric, he would not allow anyone to rule the world. Truly, he was the sun and loved to shine alone in the sky. So perhaps he decided to take her away from public performances."
The only female surbahar player in the country, Annapurna Devi, is a musician in her own right. Yet few have listened to her, thanks to "jealous" husband, Pt Ravi Shankar, who did not allow her to sing in public, a new book reveals.
"... Ravi was justifiably jealous. And so he elicited a vow from his (first) wife that she would no longer play in public," says the first authorised biography of Annapurna Devi, a legend, who has led a reclusive life and stayed away from public performances for several years. "There are many versions of this anecdote afloat, mostly apocryphal. Annapurna, however, told me that something worse had happened than Ravi attempting to make her take this oath. But she added that she would divulge it to none...," says author Swapan Kumar Bandhopadhyay, in the book 'An Unheard Melody: Annapurna Devi, An Authorised Biography.' Bandhopadhyay, one of her disciples, says this was bound to happen "if the husband and wife share the same profession. It is the male ego. For Ravi Shankar, it was worse. He was ambitious and ego-centric, he would not allow anyone to rule the world. Truly, he was the sun and loved to shine alone in the sky. So perhaps he decided to take her away from public performances."
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