Shakti’s violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan on being part of a Grammy-winning band

Shakti’s violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan on being part of a Grammy-winning band

It’s been just over a couple of weeks since jazz-fusion group Shakti’s This Moment won a Grammy in the Best Global Music Album category. The win came on the back of not just being the first album released under the Shakti name in over four decades, but also after a rigorous campaign for the 66th Recording Academy Awards.

Over a video call from Seattle, Shakti’s violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, known for his solo work as well as being one half of the sibling Carnatic duo Ganesh-Kumaresh, says it was a really big surprise when news of the nomination came last year. He says, “I did not expect that we would get nominated, but we did. Somehow from that point on, I was sure we would win it. I don’t know why, but I really thought that it was ours. That trophy is ours, and we got it. It was a premonition of sorts, but a good premonition.”

At the Grammys, Rajagopalan, Shankar Mahadevan and V Selvaganesh were on stage representing Shakti, while Zakir Hussain was backstage as he had just received his own Grammy, and the band’s founder John McLaughlin did not travel to Los Angeles for the ceremony.

The violinist says he was missing both the members who were not on stage to collect the award, but they soon all got on a joint call to revel in the win. “We celebrated like it was the last day of our lives,” Rajagopalan says with a laugh.

Although Rajagopalan has arguably been the latest entrant to a legendary band such as Shakti, his association with the likes of Hussain and McLaughlin go back nearly 25 years. The violinist recalls that his first brush with Shakti’s musical style was in 1999, when he, McLaughlin, Hussain and Selvaganesh played a small set at the Cannes Film Festival.

“They felt that instance was good enough for me to be part of the band and that’s where I feel fortunate enough,” Rajagopalan says.

In another interview, McLaughlin had spoken about bringing in the violinist, “We could not imagine another mandolin player after Srinivas. The violin was there at the birth of Shakti. It was my mother’s instrument. So it was natural in a way that we look for a violinist. Ganeshji fit in perfectly.”