I met Shankar Lal Barot in March 1997 at All India Radio in Indore where he was a staff artist. At the time his neck was in a brace and he was in considerable pain. I listened to him practising with his tabla-playing colleague, the brother of Daud Khan. Later he came back to the Samrat Hotel with me and played on my sarangi for quite a while. We talked about his life as a sarangi player and about the ongoing pain he was experiencing—apparantly caused by years practising sarangi.
On the 6th of March, 1997, Shankar Lal visted me in my hotel room in Indore. He played my sarangi, appreciating it immensely. He ban with rag Pilu in thumri style:
Then Pahadi in a light style:
I asked for some khayal, and he played rag Sarasvati:
