Shankar Mahadevan felicitated with honorary doctorate by top UK university, says “I feel privileged, honoured”

Shankar Mahadevan
| Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

Indian singer Shankar Mahadevan received an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University (BCU) for his outstanding contribution to music and the arts on June 23 in a ceremony held at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

Talking to ANI, Mahadevan shared his experience and said, “This is truly special, I feel privileged, I feel honoured and this is just the result of a 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.”

Andy Street, the mayor of West Midlands County in the UK, made the announcement during a trade mission event in Mumbai in November last year. The occasion was also attended by the Table Maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain and the legendary guitarist, John McLaughlin. He added, “When an honorary doctorate like this is conferred upon an artist that you look up to then you have 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 to 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.”

After a formal ceremony, the students of Birmingham City University performed songs composed by the singer like ‘Mitwa’ from Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna. Later the choir was joined by the legendary Shakti trio- Ustad Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan, and John McLaughlin on stage who performed Bollywood numbers and Mahadevan also enchanted the audience with his timeless classic ‘Breathless’.

Mahadevan is known for his hit tracks like ‘Maa Tujhe Salaam’, ‘Aaj Kal Zindagi’, ‘Uff Teri Ada’, ‘Tere Naina’, ‘Kay Sera Sera’, and ‘Koi Kahe Kehta Rahe’ among others.