Selvaganesh Vinayakram

V. Selvaganesh was born in Chennai, India on December 28, 1966. He is the son of percussion maestro Vikku Vinayakram.

V. Selvaganesh is one of India’s top kanjira players. He has been captivating audiences with his rhythmic genius since making his debut at the age of 10.

He had his first training at his grandfather’s school in Chennai, and later studied with his uncle, T. H. Subashchandran.

In addition to performing Carnatic music, he has participated in many fusion, jazz, blues, flamenco, symphony orchestra, Celtic, Latin and jugalbandi (duet) concerts throughout the world.

He has performed in music festivals with well-known Indian artists such as L. Shankar, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Pandit Jasraj, Shivkumar Sharma, and Hariprasad Chaurasia, and toured the United States with Zakir Hussain’s Masters of Percussion and Remember Shakti with John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. V. Selvaganesh has also worked with many prominent music directors in India, composed and produced albums, and played with the Swedish bass virtuoso Jonas Hellborg and American guitarist Shawn Lane. In the area of Indian film music, he can be heard performing in Life of Pi and Mira Nair’s Vanity Fair and Monsoon Wedding.

Discography

Remember Shakti – The Believer (Verve Records, 2000)
Good People in Times of Evil, with Jonas Hellborg (2000)
Remember Shakti – Saturday Night in Bombay (Universal Music, 2001)
A Percussion Ensemble Of Magical Brilliance, with Vikku Vinayakram, Neelamani Ramakrishna and Zakir Hussain ‎(Chhanda Dhara, 2002)
Icon: A Transcontinental Gathering, with Jonas Hellborg (Bardo Records, 2003)
Kali’s Son, with Jonas Hellborg (Bardo Records, 2006)
Soukha (Naïve, 2005)
Art Metal, with Jonas Hellborg (Bardo Records, 2007)