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."
Early life edit:
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.
Career edit:
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.
Film career edit:
V. Selvaganesh made his debut composing for films with the Tamil cinema|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.
