Why Annapurna Devi chose her musical gift over a celebrity husband

Dissonant artistic visions drove Hindustani classical musician Annapurna Devi and her husband, Ravi Shankar, to separation

30 March 1955

The last item of the music conference organized by the Constitution Club of New Delhi was a jugalbandi presentation by Ravi Shankar and Annapurna Shankar…
 

That day’s programme began with Annapurna’s recital of Ragashree. Annapurna started the alap in the mandrasaptak. Ravi Shankar occasionally touched a few notes in the madhyasaptak. After some time Ravi Shankar came down to the mandrasaptak and rested on the kharaj string. The two strings of the chakari and the strings of taraf created resonance. After this Ravi Shankar and Annapurna started vistar in the nonpareil mirkhandi fashion. Annapurna touched on the