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- V. Selvaganesh (Kanjira)
Posted by : Unknown
Saturday, September 21, 2013
V. SELVAGANESH is an Indian percussionist working in
the Carnatic tradition and one of the leading kanjira (south
Indian frame drum) player of his generation. He is also known as "Chella S. Ganesh."
Born in Chennai to Grammy-winning
musician 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. 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 player Jonas Hellborg and American
guitar virtuoso 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.
In 2012, Selvaganesh made his film directorial debut with Bodhai, a short
film in Tamil. He also composed the four-track soundtrack which was released in
digital format by Saregama.
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 romantic ballad
that brings together singers S. P. Balasubrahmanyam and K. S.
Chithra after a very long time. The
theme track of the film brought together Swedish guitarists Mattias
Eklundh on his signature electric guitar and Jonas Hellborg on
the bass respectively, Ranjit Barot on the drums, and Selvaganesh's
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.