Rhythm Master: V. Selvaganesh – Podcast 185

As a lifelong fan of Shakti, hanging with  V. Selvaganesh was a dream come true.  Here the master percussionist V. Selvaganesh talks about his music and shares his experience with John McLaughlin's Remember Shakti and other great collaborations.   He breaks down the South Indian rhythmic system and we hear selections from his album Souhka.   Our friend Arun Ramamuthy joins the discussion. 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 Chenna Selvaganesh first gained world fame through tours with John McLaughlin's group,Remember Shakti. 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.[citation needed]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 soundtrack which was released in digital format by Saregama. Here he is with Remember Shakti