A glimpse into India's movement towards musical modernism, as seen through the lens of a cultural chronicler. Includes evocative black and white photography of some of the greatest names in Indian music.
Director of Shriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra, an organisation that funds performances, provides training schools, and encourages performing arts talents to flourish in India, Shobha Deepak Singh dedicates far more than just her photography to the promotion of Indian music. A passionate impresario, she brings her entire array of artistic and corporate skills to play in the creation of this book. Singh took up photography as a child, armed only with a Roliflex camera . Later, she was gifted a Yashika. Her most memorable photo is of the sunrise from Kanyakumari, a picture taken in 1960. In 1969, she bought a Nikon to capture the Sriram Bharatiya Kala Kendra's production, focussing on a single point of action - an artistic choice that resulted in several wonderful images. From then on, there was no looking back. Her fame grew in 1996, when E. Alkazi hosted her solo photo show at the Shridharani Art Gallery. In the words of Alkazi: "Her dogged and indefatigable persistence is rewarded by the images captured as a result of her swift, instinctive reflexes." He again invited her to display at Art Heritage in Triveni. In between, Shobha had been invited by the India Habitat Centre to showcase images of women in performing arts, for International Women's Day. She exhibited her images in 2011 at the Nehru Centre, London. Ever since, her photographs have appeared in numerous leading dailies and magazines.
