Shankar Mahadevan, global music icon, receives honourary doctorate from Birmingham City University

Renowned singer Shankar Mahadevan received an honourary doctorate from Birmingham City University for his outstanding contribution to music and arts on June 23.

The ceremony was held at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. In an exclusive interview with ANI, Shankar Mahadevan expressed his gratitude and said this is a reminder to work even harder and create more beautiful songs.

Mahadevan shared his experience and said, ‘This is truly special, I feel privileged, I feel honoured and this is just the result of body of work that I have done. I would like to thank Birmingham City University and all the people who decided to confer this legendary, honourable doctorate on me. All I can say is that this is an occasion which tells that I need to work even harder, come up with even more beautiful songs and spread the joy of music which is Indian classical music all around the world.’

He added, ‘When an honorary doctorate like this is conferred upon an artiste that you look up to then you’ve a goal to achieve. The youngsters feel that their dreams are coming true in front of their eyes. They also start working hard and they would also like to achieve and would like to reach possibly where I reached today. I used to look up at maestros like John McLaughlin and Ustaad Zakir Hussain like they have come to confer this upon me. So it’s nice to set a kind example for the next generation.’

The ceremony was attended by esteemed personalities including table maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain and legendary guitarist John McLaughlin.

Following the formal ceremony, students performed some of Mahadevan's well-known compositions including 'Mitwa' from 'Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna'.

Mahadevan also mesmerised the audience as his performed his timeless classic 'Breathless'.

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