Shankar Mahadevan's musical journey started early. ``I started playing the harmonium when I was four, graduated to the veena, began to train in Carnatic vocals and gave my first public performance at 10,'' says the stockily-built Mahadevan. He admits to all kinds of early musical influences. ``I listened to a wide spectrum - ghazals by Mehdi Hassan and Ghulam Ali, Tara Devi's thumris, Miles Davis and Lata Mangeshkar. I owe credit primarily to my teacher T.R. Balamani, who gave me such a thorough grounding in Carnatic classical singing. This allowed me to grow into other forms of music.''Mahadevan was still pursuing his computer engineering studies when he began to perform in small concerts, as part of a group. ``I was struggling with backlogs, examinations and concerts. Then, around 1986, I got an offer from Divya, a jazz fusion group, to tour all over Europe. Divya was into experimenting with Carnatic vocals and Western musical instruments. Touring with them was a real learning experience,'' he says.A little later, Mahadevan got his break into the world of advertising. ``I was composing some music for Ranjeet Barot when he heard my voice and suggested I sing for him. What followed was a string of jingles from Vimal, where we used alaaps for the first time, to Mukul Anand's Yehi Hai Right Choice Baby!. When the calls to compose or sing became a more regular feature, Mahadevan, who was by now working for a software company, decided to quit and dive right into what he loved doing - music.``I was lucky to meet Louis Banks and Sivamani, two of the best musicians in the country, and form a group, Silk, now called Maha. I was at the right time with the right people,'' he says.Another instance of this fortuitous occurrence, Mahadevan explains, is his association with Swedish group Minta. ``This is a world music group of four Swedish musicians, with Fazal Qureshi, Ustad Zakir Hussain's younger brother, and me playing with them twice a year for concerts spread all over Scandinavia.''While Mahadevan has sung for films - Ooh La La La in Sapnay, Urvashi Urvashi in Humse Hain Muqabla and the recent Chhamma Chhamma in Chinagate - Breathless is his first solo pop album. ``Javed Akhtar has been a close friend ever since I composed music for a documentary made by Shabanaji (Shabana Azmi - Akhtar's wife) and him. So when HMV approached me two years ago with the offer of an album and I discovered that Javedji would be interested in writing the lyrics, I jumped at it,'' he says. Two years of hard work saw the release of the album, which has eight songs composed, sung and arranged by Mahadevan.Just how did he manage to sing the title song, which leaves one, well, breathless? ``Javedji had this idea of a song which contained only words based on a raag - no breaks for instruments, no antra or mukhda. We had extensive sittings, with each song being written and composed right in front of each other. While it may seem like I have sung Breathless, based on raags Yaman and Puryadhanashree, without pausing for breath, this is courtesy an intelligent use of modern technology,'' he reveals, but is quick to point out that for live concerts, he does indeed sing it at one go.``Within a week of its release in October last year, the album was the highest selling in Mumbai,'' says a proud Mahadevan, who believes that the right blend of intelligent poetry with Indian traditional raags has been responsible for the album's popularity.Basking in the new-found fame, Mahadevan is already busy with new projects. ``I was co-composing with Ehsan Noorani and Loy Mendonca for Mukul Anand's film Dus and had even recorded songs when Anand passed away. As a tribute to his memory, producer Nitin Manmohan has planned a compilation of the songs we had composed,'' he says. Hindustani, one of the songs, will see its music video premiered on January 26. ``I am also composing music for Nai Padosan, Sunny Deol's Dillagi and Ram Gopal Verma's new venture, Shool.'' A new year that's breathless with activity?
