Zakir Hussain is considered one of the greatest musicians of our time. Along with his legendary father and teacher, Ustad Allarakha, he has elevated the status of the tabla in India and around the world. A favorite accompanist for India’s leading classical musicians and dancers, Zakir is also widely recognized as a chief architect of the world music movement with his many historic collaborations, including Shakti, Remember Shakti, Diga, Planet Drum, and his ever-changing moveable feast, Masters of Percussion.
A child prodigy, Zakir began touring at age 12, becoming the most acclaimed Indian musician of his generation and one of the world’s leading percussionists. He is the recipient of many honors, including a recent Grammy in the category of Best Contemporary World Music for Global Drum Project with Mickey Hart, Giovanni Hidalgo, and Sikiru Adepoju; Padma Bhushan from the government of India in 2002; and the 1999 National Heritage Fellowship, the United States’s most prestigious honor for a master in traditional arts. In 1992, Planet Drum, an album co-created and co-produced by Zakir, became the first recording to win a Grammy in the category of Best World Music, and also won the Downbeat Critics’ Poll in the category of Best World Beat Album. Modern Drummer and Drum! magazines named Zakir Best World Music and Best World Music Drummer, respectively, in 2007. He has contributed to innumerable recordings and has received widespread recognition as a composer for his many projects, scores, and soundtracks, including Little Buddha, In Custody, Vanaprastham, Mystic Masseur, Mr. and Mrs. Iyer and Y-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project.
At 67 when most individuals are thinking of ways to slow down and kick back, Charles Lloyd has shifted to a higher gear. His concerts and recordings are events of pristine beauty and elegance, full of intensely felt emotion and passion that touches deep inside the heart. This not entertainment, but the powerful uncorrupted expression of beauty through music. When music vibrates, the soul vibrates and touches the spirit within.
Credited by many musicians with anticipating the World Music movement by incorporating cadences of many cultures in his compositions as early as the late1950s, Charles Lloyd describes his music as having always “danced on many shores.” Lloyd was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and was given his first saxophone at age nine. He was introduced to jazz through 1940s radio broadcasts by Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, and Duke Ellington. Lloyd’s early teachers included pianist Phineas Newborn and saxophonist Irvin Reason. His closest childhood friend was the great trumpeter Booker Little. As a teenager, Lloyd played jazz with saxophonist George Coleman and was a sideman for blues greats Johnny Ace, Bobby Blue Bland, Howlin’ Wolf, and B. B. King.
Lloyd’s ninth project for ECM is the double-disc Lift Every Voice, released in October 2002. In March 2004, ECM released the last recording by Lloyd and Higgins, Which Way Is East, documenting the wide-ranging flow of their musical creativity, as well as a deep and lasting friendship. The recording of Which Way Is East was also the subject of a documentary called Home.
Charles Lloyd maintains an active touring schedule with performances at festivals and concert halls. He continues to work with both Geri Allen and John Abercrombie, and also continues to do special projects with Zakir Hussain.
Eric Du’sean Harland, composer and drummer, is a native of Houston, Texas, and currently resides on the east coast. He began his professional career in 1993 playing locally as he finished high school at The High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. Harland won first chair in 1992 and 1993 with the Regional and All-State Jazz Band. During a workshop in high school, Wynton Marsalis discovered him and encouraged him to study in New York City. Harland then attended Manhattan School of Music on a full scholarship in their music program.
Harland has made over 26 recordings with various artists. Among these recordings, Let’s Get Lost and Wandering Moon (Terence Blanchard on Sony Classical) and Black Action Figure (Stefon Harris on Blue Note) were nominated for Grammy Awards. With Terence Blanchard, Harland has played on 18 motion picture movie scores such as Bo Jangles (with Gregory Hines), Caveman’s Valentine (with Samuel Jackson), Original Sin (with Antonio Banderas and Angelina Jolie) and two movies not yet released, People I Know (with Al Pacino and Kim Basinger) and Dark Blue (with Kirk Russell). Performing live is one of Harland’s greatest joys; he has played with the greats in the jazz industry, including Betty Carter, Joe Henderson, and Charles Lloyd, among others. In DownBeat’s 65th Annual Readers Poll, Harland was noted as a world-recognized drummer, along with Elvin Jones and Roy Haynes.
Harland is currently endorsed by Yamaha drums, Zildjian cymbals, Evans drumheads, and Vater sticks.
U. Shrinivas, already one of the most lauded Indian musicians of our time, has single-handedly brought the mandolin to the Indian classical concert stage. Adapting it to Carnatic music, he transformed the mandolin into an Indian classical music instrument, his version of the mandolin being electric with single strings, by virtue of his astounding fluidity, speed, and beauty of tone.
Born in Palakol, in the West Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh, Shrinivas manifested an ear for music as a very young boy. Inspired by the boy’s interest in music at only six years old, his father Satyanarayana taught his son what little music he knew. Subbaraju, a classically trained musician and disciple of the famous musical stalwart Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar sensed the young boy’s musical aptitude and decided to teach him.
After an appearance at the Sri Thyagaraja Aradhana festival at age nine, Shrinivas’s career surged. In Madras (now Chennai), the India Fine Arts Society afforded him his first major metropolitan concert in December 1981. A worldwide concert tour followed, and Shrinivas spent touring the world extensively for the next several years, enchanting audiences with his youthful vigor and expertise.
Shrinivas’s concerts are highly acclaimed, and he has received prestigious awards, including the Best Artist Award by the Madras Musical Academy in both 1983 and 1993; the titles Padma Shri (1988) and Mandolin Samrat (Emperor) in 1983, and Asthana Vidwan in 1984 by the government of Tamil Nadu; the title of Sangeetha Choodamani and the Raja Lakshmi Foundation Award in 1985. He is a member of Remember Shakti and also appears in duet mandolin concert tours with his talented brother, U. Rajesh.
Shankar Mahadevan was born in Chennai, India, to a Tamil family, and grew up in Mumbai. He started learning classical Carnatic music in his early childhood and started playing veena at age five. Shankar was considered a child prodigy when, at age three, he began to play harmonium without any prior exposure to or training in this keyboard instrument, a sure sign to his family that music was in his future.
Though a software engineer by profession who worked with Oracle Corporation, Mahadevan ventured into the field of music because of his talent and interest. He received his first award as a playback singer in Chennai film music, collaborating with composer A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in Kandukondain Kandukondain. A prominent star in the Kodambakkam film industry, Mahadevan later gained further recognition with his first album, Breathless. Currently one of the most successful music directors in the bourgeoning Bollywood film industry, he is one-third of the popular trio Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, prolifically providing scores for countless films and productions.
Mahadevan appears as vocalist with supergroup Remember Shakti to great critical acclaim, and has enjoyed a recent successful run with the jazz fusion group Silk.
V. Selvaganesh is a young percussion virtuoso of the Carnatic tradition and is widely considered the foremost kanjira (South Indian frame drum) player of his generation. The kanjira is a small frame drum, about 19 centimeters in diameter with a pair of cymbals in its rim; held in the left hand (which modulates the notes by controlling the tension in the drumhead) and played with the right, the kanjira’s head must be kept slightly moist to maintain its generous, deep sound.
The son of T. H. “Vikku” Vinayakram and grandson of Sri T. R. Harihara Sarma, Selvaganesh had his early training at Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, the music institute founded by his grandfather. A musical prodigy, he gave his first concert performance at age 10, and received advanced training from his uncle, Sri T. H. Subash Chandran.
Selvaganesh has accompanied all of the leading musicians of the Carnatic tradition, including the legendary vocalists Smt. M. S. Subbalakshmi and Smt. M.L. Vasanthakumari, violin great Sri Lalgudi Jayaraman, mandolin master Sri U. Shrinivas, and violin virtuosos Sri Ganesh and Kumaresh. In 1993, Selvaganesh began to tour internationally with tabla legend Ustad Allarakha, his son Zakir Hussain, and his own father Sri T.H. Vinayakram in an ensemble which later appeared as Masters of Percussion. In the West, Selvaganesh is perhaps best-known for his work with Remember Shakti founded by John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. He also appears widely with his father in the percussion ensemble Sapthaakshara, and is at the helm of several creative projects including ensembles in jazz (notably with bassist Jonas Hellborg), world music, and techno-pop genres. Soukha, his debut international solo album, was released in 2006, featuring all members of Remember Shakti. In 2008, Selvaganesh made his debut composing for films with the Tamil movie Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu.
T. H. “Vikku” Vinayakram is responsible for the progress, development, and current popularity of the ghatam, a percussion instrument that is essentially a hardened earthen pot capable of making high, as well as bass, tones depending on the pressure with which it is struck and the way in which the player covers the mouth of the pot. Born to Kalaimani T. R. Harihara Sharma, a talented musician and teacher, “Vikku,” as he is commonly known, started playing music at a very young age. A child prodigy, he began his concert career at age 13, establishing his right to be on stage with such dexterity that he was soon accompanying many famous vocalists of Carnatic music, including Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. S. Subbalakshmi and Maharajapuram Santhanam, among others.
Vinayakram’s tryst with the international music platform began in the early 1970s when he joined Shakti to play along with John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. His expert showmanship and nimble fingers excited audiences across the globe, catapulting Shakti to fame.
Vinayakram is principal of Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, India, the academy established by his late father and teacher in 1958. It continues to produce new stars of Carnatic percussion. His son, V. Selvaganesh, a world-famous percussionist in his own right, is a member of the super group Remember Shakti with Zakir Hussain and John McLaughlin. Vinayakram has won several awards during his illustrious career, including the Hafiz Ali Award (for unmatched contribution in the field of music) in 2000 and the Padma Shri in 2002, both given by the Indian government. In 1992, he became the first South Indian musician to be awarded a Grammy in the category of Best World Music Album for his participation in Zakir Hussain and Mickey Hart’s recording Planet Drum.