Ten String Magic: How L. Shankar reinvented the violin

February 14, 2026

Written by The Revolver Club

Ten String Magic: How L. Shankar reinvented the violin

February 14, 2026

Written by The Revolver Club

On 13 February 2026, L. Shankar takes over the Royal Opera House stage with the instrument that has come to define his career: the 10-string, double-necked stereophonic electric violin known as the LSD.

Developed in 1978 with New York luthier Ken Parker, it entered the wider public ear in 1981 - heard on Phil Collins’ Face Value and on Shankar’s own Who’s to Know. Shankar has described it as an instrument that can travel from bass weight to treble brightness, letting one player cover a far wider register without switching instruments mid-piece.

His father, V. Lakshminarayana, trained him in Carnatic music, where pitch behaves like speech: a note stretches, turns, and settles with intention. Shankar absorbed that discipline to a degree that the technique seems to vanish in performance.

Shakti became the fiercest arena for that approach. With John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, and T. H. Vikku Vinayakram, the group played with the pressure of a high-wire act. The violin sits inside dense rhythmic cycles and still holds its clarity. McLaughlin’s guitar carved sharp patterns; Shankar replied with curved Carnatic phrases; the percussion treated time as elastic. Even at high tempo, every turn felt deliberate. Over time, Shakti reshaped what “fusion” could mean and raised the bar for ensemble improvisation.

In 1979, Shankar toured with Frank Zappa as his electric violinist, learning how quickly a band can shift register, mood, and volume. The next decade brought ECM recordings. Pancha Nadai Pallavi, recorded in 1989 and released in 1990 with Zakir and Vikku, moves through long forms without losing tension. Raga Aberi later earned a Grammy nomination for Best World Music Album.

His credits also extend far beyond the classical circuit, including studio work with Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. The through line stays consistent: he treats tone as language, and rhythm as a partner with teeth.

Friday’s show comes with one simple instruction—follow the line of his sound. Listen closely to the silence around it. When the phrase bends, notice how it returns. That return is where the discipline lives, and where the freedom becomes audible.

Suswara Lakshmi : How M.S. Subbulakshmi became a national icon

September 17, 2026

Today, the 16th of September, is M.S. Subbulakshmi’s 110th birthday. In Tamil Nadu, she was MS Am...

Om: How John Coltrane found India while searching beyond jazz

September 11, 2026

Among John Coltrane’s papers sits a page headed “Scales of India.” He worked through ascending an...

Swar Samragyi: How the world keeps discovering Asha Bhosle

September 9, 2026

Asha Bhosle grew up in a Marathi household built around classical music, her father Deenanath Man...

Comments

Peter Mart — August 14, 2026

ALPHA RECOVERY EXPERTS – CRYPTO SCAM RECOVERY SOLUTIONS CENTER.

Thankfully, many folks who have fallen victim to these online trading Ponzi schemes are receiving their money back thanks to ALPHA RECOVERY EXPERTS. If you have ever lost your Crypto Assets to internet scammers, you can reclaim your funds with the help of the team. Alpha Recovery Experts are a licensed Cryptocurrency recovery team based in the United Kingdom who specializes in the recovery of lost currencies and bitcoin. My all invested life assets worth $194,000 were shielded from an online scammer thanks to the Experts. If you are a victim looking for an ethical hacker to help you get your money back, contact ALPHA RECOVERY EXPERTS through their support Team;

Mail Info; ( Alpharecoveryexpert@consultant.com
WHATSAPP; +44(745)742-4681

Brenda Banice — August 11, 2026