MUMBAI: Sivamani launched his only solo album till date with such gusto that artistes from the music world couldn't stop being a party to it. Tabla Maestro Zakir Hussain, whom Sivamani refers to as Guruji and Jazz man Louis Banks launched the album in the traditional Indian way yesterday at the Hard Rock Cafe, Mumbai.

Zakir Hussain said, "Sivamani does what very few musicians are able to do, there's purity and honesty in his music. I wish that Siva will create many such albums." he said, "Now this work (reffering the album) is over, you have to put this behind and move on to create something new everytime." All this while, Sivamani was all ears to his Guruji's advice.

"I can say that Sivamani has spent more time with me than his wife" joked friend and Jazz musician Louis Banks. "My association with Sivamani has been very old. As we worked together, we went on to become friends and then to friends for lifetime". The 10 minute audio-visual clip marked snapshots from Sivamani's 35 years of music journey –  Musician friends from around the globe were seen giving him a thumbs-up for his creation. 'Mahaleela' features Zakir Hussain, Viku Vinayak Ram, Louis Banks, Hariharan, Shankar Mahadevan and Niladri Kumar and has 12 tracks  Sivamani is a bhakta of Lord Shiva - the God of 'percussions' who is also believed as the One behind this cosmic play – no guesses why the album is called 'Mahaleela'!

Sivamani offered condolences to the terror attack victims, "I feel very sad about what happened, I often question God – why did this happen. I am dedicating this to all those who lost their lives." A teary eyed Sivamani grieved the loss of renowned sound engineer and friend H. Sridhar who passed away a couple of days back, "I miss him" he said "H. Sridhar has also contributed in the making of 'Mahaleela'." Apart from the album, Sivamani announced the launch of his record label KKVM under which 'Mahaleela' is released. "I am hoping to bring many new artistes through this record label" he said. KKVM stands for the important people in his life, Krishani his wife, Kumaran his son, V for daughter Vishika and M for Mani.

Surrounded by his elaborate percussion set-up, a performance was followed post the album launch. Niladri Kumar and Louis Banks opened with Sivamani, but later, both were seen glued to Siva performance during his solo stint just like any other listener. Siva created music of whatever came in front of his eye – with drum-sticks, hands, spoon and empty water containers engaging the listeners for almost two hours. Audience, who had turned up to watch Sivamani were delighted when Zakir Hussain and Taufiq Qureshi joined Siva for an impromptu jam session - Magical! Somehow the audience got a wind of Shankar Mahadevan's presence and he too was called over -- Mahadevan sang an extended version of 'Breathless' and also made the audience sing with him.

As I walked out, the young chunk could be heard saying, 'Ahhh… Zhakaas, Paisa Vasool! – 'Inspiring' is the word!