Grammy Awards 2024: India Wins Big, Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain Triumph

At the Grammy Awards 2024 on Monday, the Grammy for ‘Best Global Music Album’ was clinched by the fusion band ‘Shakti’, led by Indian musicians Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain, for their latest album ‘This Moment’.

PM Modi congratulated them on their success saying,

Five prestigious awards were secured by accomplished Indian musicians, including tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia, during the Grammy Awards 2024 in Los Angeles.

Three Grammys were earned by Zakir Hussain, while Rakesh Chaurasia received two accolades. The fusion group Shakti, comprised of singer Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram, collaborators with Hussain, collectively earned one Grammy each at the Grammy Awards 2024 event held at the Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.

Grammy Award Acceptance Speech by Shankar Mahadevan

In a picture shared by the Grammys on their official X (formerly known as Twitter) account, Mahadevan and another member of the band, Ganesh Rajagopalan, were seen accepting the award on stage. The Grammy’s post read, “Congrats Best Global Music Album winner – ‘This Moment’ Shakti. #GRAMMYs.”

In an acceptance speech, Mahadevan expressed his gratitude, stating, “Thank you boys. Thank you God, family, friends, and India. India, we are proud of you… Last but not the least, I would like to dedicate this award to my wife whom every note of my music is dedicated to.” The musician’s speech evoked a loud cheer from the crowd.

The album ‘This Moment’, released on June 30 last year, features eight songs created by John McLaughlin (guitar synth), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Shankar Mahadevan (vocalist), V Selvaganesh (percussionist), and Ganesh Rajagopalan (violinist). They were nominated for the Grammys alongside artists like Susana Baca, Bokante, Burna Boy, and Davido.

Grammy Wins and Acceptance Speech by Zakir Hussain

Zakir Hussain secured three Grammy awards, including the best global music performance for “Pashto” and the best contemporary instrumental album for “As We Speak”.

In the best global music performance category, Hussain’s competitors included “Abundance In Millets” by Falu featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Shadow Forces” by Arooj Aftab, Vijay Iyer, and Shahzad Ismaily, and “Alone” by Burna Boy.

Rakesh Chaurasia, the nephew of legendary flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia, clinched two Grammys at the Grammy Awards 2024, as part of the ensemble of American banjo player Bela Fleck and American bassist Edgar Meyer for “Pashto” and “As We Speak”.

In his acceptance speech for “Pashto”, Hussain emphasized, highlighting the importance of love, music, and harmony,

“Without love and music we are nothing. Thanks to the Academy, thanks to all these great musicians for giving us this beautiful (live) music today. One of our members is missing, Mr. Bela Fleck. So from him, Mr. Rakesh Chaurasia, and Mr. Edgar Meyer, our deepest thanks… Families are here and without them, we are nothing. Without love, music, harmony, we are nothing,”

This is not Hussain’s first win at the awards organized by the US-based Recording Academy. He previously won Grammys across categories and in solo capacity as well as in collaborations, in 1991, 1996, and 2008.

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