Violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan is hopeful that Grammy win will boost Indian music

Ganesh Rajagopalan, the violinist of the fusion band Shakti that bagged a Grammy recently, says the momentous win is slowly sinking in.

Post the win, Ganesh and other members of the band have been giving a slew of interviews, talking at length about their experiences at the Grammys. But it was only when the pilot, on the flight back home, came up to him and congratulated him that Ganesh began to realise the magnitude of the win.

“That’s when the momentous event started sinking in ... And when I landed in Chennai, it was such a huge honour to be welcomed by Kanyakumari ji, the great violin maestro,” he says.

Three weeks after bagging the most prestigious award for musical excellence, Ganesh is still ecstatic and beaming with pride, understandably so. While the nomination came as a surprise to him, the violinist was certain that the band would win the Grammy.

Shakti—comprising guitarist and founding member John McLaughlin, tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, violinist Ganesh, vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, and percussionist V Selvaganesh—won the Best Global Music Album award for their work This Moment.

“I was euphoric,” the violinist tells YS Life, recalling the moment when their band’s name was called out at the Grammy Awards 2024 ceremony in Los Angeles.

Chennai-based Ganesh, who is part of the Carnatic music fraternity, believes the Grammy recognition is a testimony to the global appeal of Indian art and culture and will provide a big fillip to Indian music.

“It should give a platform for Carnatic music on the world stage and give Indian music a great boost,” says Ganesh, whose odyssey with the violin began at the tender age of seven.

Renowned for his Carnatic style violin duet with his brother Kumaresh, Ganesh became a member of Shakti, a trans-continental Indo-jazz fusion band, in 2019.

The violin virtuoso talks about the making of the pandemic project This Moment, the dynamics of Shakti, the role of instrumental music, and more.

His reverence and admiration for McLaughlin and Hussain—key members of Shakti—is evident from his innumerable references to the musical legends during the course of the interview.

Edited excerpts from the interview …

YS Life [YSL]: The studio album, This Moment, represents Shakti’s labour of love over 50 years of playing together. Can you take us through its making?

Ganesh: It was during the pandemic that John ji and Zakir bhai decided on doing this album. We were all in different parts of the world then, and not doing anything besides online concerts and teaching. So, this was fantastic because we would actually get into some work.

Shakti coming up with a studio album after 45 years was a huge thing. John ji said, “We have to heal the world.” That was appropriate at that point of time because the world was reeling. And those words stuck with me. We were able to heal a lot of souls by doing this album.

Everybody was putting in their work in Dropbox, and we were downloading and listening to it. We were also putting our musical ideas into it. Back and forth, it was all laid out.

For the engineer, it would have sounded different because the sounds were coming from different areas, different continents actually. But once they were all mixed, it sounded as if we were all performing in one room. And that’s what Shakti is about … brotherhood, affection, and the love we have for each other … It’s like an extension of a family.

YSL: Musically, what does This Moment represent?

Ganesh: John is a jazz musician, but he is also good at other forms of music and so fond of Indian rhythm, especially the Carnatic form. Selvaganesh is fantastic with the kanjira, mridangam, ghatam, and morsing. Zakir bhai’s tabla is a world instrument now. Then we had Shankar ji with his exploding, mind-blowing voice, and I did whatever I could do from my side.

Musically, This Moment is a coming together of different soundscapes … how jazz music can collaborate so well with Indian and world music.

YSL: What does the Grammy recognition mean to Indian music and Carnatic music in particular? Will it open newer avenues going forward?

Ganesh: It should give a platform for Carnatic music on the world stage. I think the Grammy will give Indian music a great boost—not just because of us, Rakesh ji (flautist Rakesh Chaurasia) also got the Grammy for his collaboration with Zakir bhai and Bela Fleck. So, this is a huge achievement for Indian music and Indian art and culture.

YSL: The West has always had a fascination for Indian music. George Harrison trained under Pandit Ravi Shankar. After the Grammy, do you foresee a lot more interest and curiosity in Indian music?

Ganesh: Absolutely. It is already there. Zakir bhai is doing quite a lot of work and keeping Indian music alive across the world. I am also doing it in my small way.

Recently, I played one of my pieces with a symphony orchestra, which is going to premiere in May. I am also collaborating with some jazz musicians. As a violin player playing Carnatic music, the Grammy will give a lot of recognition to me to be out there and perform with all these people.

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YSL: Shakti gave a whole new meaning to ‘fusion music’. Since the 70s, it has endured for 50 long years, welcoming different artists into its fold. What does Shakti mean for you—from having listened to its music to now being part of the band?

Ganesh: Shakti has always been a genre defining band. At that time, there was no fusion or world music. The band was perhaps ahead of its time. If you see the discography of the band, each album is so different. And every generation has lapped it up.

I have always loved their music. I knew there was a lot of Indian music out there. That part is easy to understand. But what felt new to me were the compositions of John ji, which had lots of jazz elements. To tap that into our (Indian) style was very educative. When you learn something, you keep yourself alive in music.

Even after 50 years of Shakti, nothing of this sort has come about from India. We have not been able to produce something like that. It had to come from the West … I don’t know why.

John ji and Zakir bhai were able to come up with something that has defined the imagination of everyone in the world.

There is so much improvisation on stage, something not seen in any other band. The percussion interludes, the preludes, and the solos are so definitive and unique.

YSL: Can you shed some light on the band dynamics and chemistry among the members?

Ganesh: The chemistry was great because everybody was egging on each other on stage, with shabash and bale! We were having fun.

Zakir bhai and John ji were there to guide me on what Shakti music is all about. Zakir bhai has known me for a long time … we have been playing together for a long time, and he guided me on what was expected of me.

It’s also important to just be there and listen to the others … see the vibes and then get in and do what you can do.

YSL: Any takeaway from the last five years that you have been with the band?

Ganesh: The takeaway for me is the presentation—how to present and imbibe the music and how to keep the mind open for new ideas.

YSL: In 2022, you celebrated 50 years of playing violin duet with your brother Kumaresh. How do you look back at this incredible journey so far?

Ganesh: It’s been a fantastic journey. What we have done, we see many youngsters doing it now. We did Raga Pravaham or instrumental compositions. Now I see a lot of artists doing instrumental compositions. People are also doing harmonies, graha bedam (the technique of shifting the tonic note to another note in the raga and arriving at a different raga), etc. When we see this, we understand we have made a mark in our 50 years journey together. This is a special bond that both of us have. And we will keep doing that.

In the meanwhile, we are also able to do our own things. That’s been a blessing.

YSL: Has instrumental music received its due among listeners? What can be done by the artists to take it forward?

Ganesh: Listening to instrumental music has become a niche thing. It’s not appreciated as much as it should be. I hope with all these things (Grammy, innovations), when more youngsters take it up, things will change.

Every artist has to create their own identity through the music they play, whether you are an instrumental player or vocalist. For example, if you think of Lalgudi Jayaraman, you immediately think of his thillanas. If you take MS Amma (MS Subbulakshmi), you remember her for Venkatesa Suprabhatham. Lot of people identify us with our instrumental compositions or fusion albums.

Instrumentalists have now started to realise this; they have to do more and not rely on movie songs alone, which is an easy and catchy way. In the long run, you need something of your own.

Sometimes I feel instrumental artists are stuck in the mould of gayaki style–they should come out of it; once they come out, they will see a different world. They are seeing only 10 grams of soil, instead of seeing the whole universe. There is so much to do on an instrument.

YSL: What’s next for you as a musician on your own exploration?

Ganesh: An album collaborating with a lot of musicians across the globe is on the anvil. One song from the album is called Yugma, which means ‘confluence’, in collaboration with Northwest Sinfonietta (a musical orchestra).