Laxmichand "Babla" Virji Shah and Kumari Kanchan Dinkarrao Mali-Shah were an Indian husband-wife musical group best known for work in the chutney music and Desi Folk music genres. They performed together for forty years until Kanchan died in 2004. Babla Shah is the younger brother of famous music director duo Kalyanji Anandji.
Biography
Babla was born as Laxmichand Virji Shah, son of Virji Shah, into a Kutchi Jain family of trading background. His family hailed from the village of Kundrodi in Kutch, Gujarat. His father had moved to Mumbai and set up a shop in Girgaum. The music director duo of Kalyanji and Anandji are Babla's elder brothers.
Babla sang some songs for films and also tried his hand at music direction like his older brothers. According to film music expert Rajesh Subramanian, the song "Khaike Pan Banaraswala" was composed by Babla. He felt the need to differentiate himself from his famous brothers and he took up folk music-with-western-elements as his niche genre of music. He made this selection because he had a taste and talent for this type of hybrid music, as also a liking for live performance. He started his band in 1962, and the venture met with success. A form of traditional folk dance from the state of Gujarat called Dandiya Raas or Raas Garba was musically redefined (with western elements and instruments) by Shah in the 1970s.
