| V. Selvaganesh | |
|---|---|
V. Selvaganesh |
|
| Background information | |
| Born | December 28, 1966 Palakol, India |
| Origin | India |
| Genres | Indian classical music |
| Occupations | percussion |
| Instruments | percussion |
V. Selvaganesh is an Indian percussionist working in the Carnatic tradition, and is one of the leading kanjira (south Indian frame drum) player of his generation.[1] He is also known as "Chella S. Ganesh."
Contents |
Born in Chennai to Grammy-winner Vikku Vinayakram, a former member of the original Shakti. He is the grandson of T. R. Harihara Sarma, who founded the Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya (Sri JGTV school) in Chennai.
Selvaganesh gained world fame through tours with John McLaughlin's group Remember Shakti.[2] He helps his father, Grammy-winner T.H. "Vikku" Vinayakram, to run the Sri JGTV school and train a new generation of Carnatic percussionists. He has also composed and produced albums, and played with the Swedish bass virtuoso Jonas Hellborg and American guitar player Shawn Lane.
His debut international solo album, Soukha was released in 2006 featuring all other regular members of Remember Shakti including John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, U. Srinivas and Shankar Mahadevan, as well as sitar player Niladri Kumar and Selvaganesh's father T.H. "Vikku" Vinayakram. He has also formed a new group called dr JSM, with the UK-based Goan songwriter/producer dr.Joel and the young Carnatic singer Mahesh. Their Indo-Celtic album entitled Turn on the dreams was released in the UK in 2005.
V. Selvaganesh made his debut composing for films with the Tamil movie Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu (2008).
He next scored the music for the Tamil film Kola Kolaya Mundhirika (2009) where he had composed a diverse album containing a Punjabi-style Bhangra song sung by his favorite singer Shankar Mahadevan, a south Indian folk song, a hip-hop number, and an exquisite, romantic ballad that brings together legendary singers S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and K. S. Chithra after a very long time. The theme track of the film brought together world-renowned Swedish guitarists Mattias Eklundh on his signature electric guitar and Jonas Hellborg on the bass respectively, Ranjit Barot on the drums, and Selvaganesh's legendary father Vikku Vinayakram on the Ghatam. It marks the first time that so many world-renowned musicians have collaborated in the history of Tamil film music.