Tribute to Van Shipley... Death Anniversary.(8 March 2008)

• published: 08 Mar 2014
• views: 391

Van Shipley was born Valentine Van Shipley in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Born to parents who were music lovers themselves (his mother was a wonderful sitarist, and a student of Ustad Yusuf Ali Khan), young Van Shipley learnt to play the tabla, the violin and the guitar. His first violin lessons were from Gagan Chatterjee, an Allahabad-based violinist. Ustad Vilayat Khan was his schoolmate and friend, and even at that age, Van Shipley gave sangat on the violin to both Ustad Bande Hasan Khan and his son Ustad Zinde Hasan Khan, from whom he would further his knowledge of the violin. He became friends with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar in Lucknow in 1941, a friendship that was to last until his death.  It was while studying at Aligarh University that Talat Mehmood, a classmate, invited him to join All India Radio, Lucknow. While there, he took lessons from Ustad Allaudin Khan on the violin and also from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.  Van Shipley's film career took off with Chand, where he assisted music directors Husnlal-Bhagatram. While in Pune, he shared quarters with Dev Anand and Guru Dutt, and formed a close friendship with Rehman and Sapru. When Prabhat films split into two, he joined producer Baburao Pai in Bombay. His earliest films were Nargis (1946), Anmol Ghadi (1946) and Mera Suhag (1947). He was soon working with music directors like Khemchand Prakash, C Ramchandra, Anil Biswas and Ghulam Haider. Soon, Van Shipley began making waves as a soloist, and was in great demand. The melodious strains of his guitar can be heard in SD Burman's composition for Geeta Dutt in Do Bhai. ( Mera Sunder Sapna Beet Giya) Performing at a show held at St Xavier's College, Bombay, he impressed Raj Kapoor, who had just released his film Aag the year before. Raj Kapoor was ready to film his second film Barsaat (1949), where his character played the violin.  Van Shipley did the violin playback for the entire film. The hugely successful film skyrocketed not only the careers of Lata Mangeshkar and Shankar Jaikishen, but also ensured that Van Shipley became a name to be reckoned with.  He became an integral part of Raj Kapoor's team of musicians. In 1952's Awara, he added his electric guitar to the famous dream sequence. This one song is enough to forever enshrine his name in the pantheon of the greats. It was in 1955 that he teamed up with Enoch Daniels, the accordion player whom he met while at Prabhat Studios, Pune. It was a partnership that would last many, many years. In 1956, along with Talat Mehmood and CH Atma, Van Shipley and Enoch Daniels would tour British East Africa - they pioneered live stage shows by Indian performers. Van Shipley spoke impeccable Urdu, and had his own calligraphy set so he could write the language. He was also a fine painter, and a keen photographer. According to Ingrid, every time her father was home, he would pull out his camera, and make them pose. Friends and family are in possession of his paintings, which he gave away almost as soon as he painted them. A little known fact about Van Shipley is that he also acted in a few films, beginning with guest appearances in Fareb (1953) and Dharampatni. He directed the background music of the former and the entire score of both Dharampatni and Carnival Queen (1955), where he also appeared before the camera. You can see him in the background of this dance number from Cha Cha Cha  (1964). He also acted as the hero in a couple of movies, which, according to his own notes, did not prove to be successful. But his musical legacy lives on, and even today, music aficionados from all over the world, trawl the 'Net for his music.