Yollay - Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy & Farhan Akhtar Live In Concert Houston

Shankar Mahadevan
Music
Shankar Mahadevan is a Indian and a multiple National Film Award winning music composer and singer. An accomplished musician in Tamil cinema, he is a part of the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio team that provides music to Bollywood and other International films. Though having earlier worked with the Oracle Corporation, Shankar's interest in music made him venture into the field of music.[3] He earned his first award as a playback singer in a Tamil movie, collaborating with A. R. Rahman and winning a National Film Award for his song in Kandukondain Kandukondain. A prominent star in the Kodambakkam film industry, he later gained more recognition by releasing his first music album called Breathless in 1998, in which he actually sings through the whole song in a single breath so as said but the song is sung with tricks in voice software application. He later got into music direction and became a part of the Shankar Ehsaan Loy trio, composing music for Hindi films. He enjoys a successful run with Fusion-Jazz band SILK with Louis Banks on Keyboards, Sivamani on percussion, Sridhar Parthasarathy on Mridangam and Karl Peters on Bass Guitar. Shankar Mahadevan has also provided vocals for several compositions of Remember Shakti which features maestros like Zakir Hussain, John McLaughlin, U. Srinivas and Selvaganesh Vinayakram.

Ehsaan Noorani
Music
Ehsaan Noorani is a part of the hugely successful trio Shankar, Ehsaan, Loy (SEL) -Indias towering presence in the field of cinematic music and composition. His musical landscape, vast knowledge of music, endless reservoir of melodic ideas, and ability to instantly create strong hooks; both vocal and on the guitar are only a sliver of his massive contribution to the musical tripod that is Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy! He has charted a course all of his own, learning from diverse experiences along the way, in his eternal quest for creative brilliance Early Days: Ehsaan was raised in an environment that inculcated the appreciation for various genres of music right from an early age. And before one knew it, young Ehsaan was bitten by the musical bug! He soon began learning the guitar under the expert tutelage of Bismarck Rodriguez in Mumbai at the age of 14. Learning on Foreign Shores: Ehsaan attended GIT (The Guitar Institute of Technology as it was then known, now known simply as MI) between March 1985 and 1986. This period proved to be the turning point of his musicianship as he gradually began to develop into a guitarist of immense potential. Admittedly, it was a steep learning curve that egged him onto push beyond the realms of his known abilities. He has fond memories of this period and often refers to it as the best year of my life Being in Los Angeles, often referred to as the Music Capital of the World, exposed him to great musicians like Robben Ford, Larry Carlton and many other great artists of varying repute. This was a year of redoubtable growth for Ehsaan which helped both his improvisation and composition skills. Changing Musical Influences through the Ages: After being influenced by popular bands of the 1970s like Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Wishbone Ash and Santana; Ehsaan developed a strong inclination and affection for the Blues. There was something about the genre that caught his fancy then and continues to hold him in thrall even today! Listening to players like Johnny Winter, BB King, Eric Clapton and Robben Ford helped him build a blues vocabulary, which was his stepping-stone to improvisation. The 80s saw Ehsaans musical tastes being strongly influenced by bands like The Police, Level 42, Go West, Mr. Mister who burst onto the scene with their produced sound, complex structures and melodic hooks. Ehsaan cites his guitar influences as mainly Robben Ford, BB King, Larry Carlton, Andy Summers, Andy Powell, Laurie Wisefield, Eric Clapton and Michael Landau. It was these varied influences that moulded his perceptible musical sensibilities and helped him develop a keener understanding of different genres something that continues to hold him in good stead! The Return of the Prodigal Son: On his return to India, Ehsaan was drawn into the studio scene working with composers like Louiz Banks for numerous advertising commercials. He continued to make waves in the industry with his catchy tunes, musical brilliance and expert guitarmanship. This soon led to Ehsaan composing music for commercials. And before one knew it, Ehsaan was soon brainstorming with Shankar Mahadevan and Loy Mendonsa. The three came together to compose music for filmsSEL was born and the rest is history! Composing for commercials and films helped Ehsaan experiment with many different styles of music blues, rock, country, electronic or metal but his heart still lay and continues to lie with the Blues (he still performs with his current band Apostrophe)!

Loy Mendonsa
Music
Loy Mendonsa is an Indian music director and part of the Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy trio which consist of himself, Shankar Mahadevan and Ehsaan Noorani. Before becoming a music composer, he played piano and keyboards for famous Indian music composers such as A. R. Rahman and Nadeem-Shravan. His daughter, Alyssa Mendonsa, made her singing debut with the song Uff Teri Adaa from the movie Karthik Calling Karthik.

Farhan Akhtar
Music
Writer Javed Akhtar's and Honey Irani's son 'Farhan Akhtar' is an extremely talented and creative and young director and has made a place for himself in very little time. He entered Bollywood at the age of 17, assisting directors and cinematographers. He dropped out of college and did various jobs like working for a TV production house and setting up his own production house, Excel Entertainment with childhood friend Ritesh Sidhwani. Farhan made his directorial debut in Hindi cinema with the 2001 hit, Dil Chahta Hai (2001), which starred Aamir Khan. It was a big success, especially popular among the younger generation. Many rate it as one of the greatest movies ever made in Bollywood. The movie earned quite a few nominations for different awards, and won the Filmfare best screenplay award. His next project was Lakshya (2004) with Hrithik Roshan, which was released in 2004. Though the movie did not do as well at the box office, it won him much critical acclaim. The script of the movie was written by his father Javed Akhtar. He then directed a remake of the 1978 cult classic Amitabh Bachchan film, Don (1978) called Don (2006) which starred Shah Rukh Khan in the title role. The film released on 20 October 2006 and was a huge success at the box office. He produced the film Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd. (2007) which also did well at the box office. Then came Rock On!! (2008), in which he starred and produced. The film was a phenomenon and became an instant cult film just like Dil Chahta Hai (2001). And Farhan has a lot to do with its success. He produced it, wrote the dialogues for it, acted in it and learned how to sing the super hit songs. His husky voice seems perfect for Indian rock music. The performance of Farhan in the movie was a revelation. And a method actor of his own unique style was born. Farhan has won applauds from his viewers for his acting debut and all loved the sound of his voice on songs like 'Rock On' and 'Tum Ho Toh'. As part of promotions for Rock On!! (2008), Farhan Akhtar, Arjun Rampal, Luke Kenny and Purab Kohli (the members of the Rock On!! (2008) cast and the fictitious band 'Magik' depicted in the movie) has toured the country making crowds groove to their rocking and magical music. He was the host of Oye! It's Friday! (2008) which is a celebrity talk show with a tinge of comedy. On the personal front, Farhan is married to Adhuna Bhabani Akhtar and they have two daughters: Shakya and Akira. They live in Bandra Bandstand, Mumbai. He is good friends with the Rock On!! (2008) cast and Shah Rukh Khan. Recently another film got released featuring Farhan as an actor. It is his sister Zoya Akhtar's directorial debut Luck by Chance (2009) in which he plays a struggling actor. The film did fairly good at the box office, but did not turn out to be a super hit, although it received some great remarks in its various reviews. He will soon be seen as an actor once again in Vijay Lalwani's thriller Karthik Calling Karthik (2010) co-starring with the actress Deepika Padukone. After that he will be returning to direction with Don 2 (2011) which he is aiming to be a far more bigger and better action movie with a huge budget than its predecessor Don (2006) and is set to release in the later half of the year 2010.

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy & Farhan Akhtar Live In Concert Houston

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