When Indian musician and composer Rikhy Ray first came to New York in 1977, he was already a virtuoso guitarist, thoroughly familiar with classical and modern guitar repertory. But it was New York City with its lively mix of funk, rock, pop, jazz and Latin music that inspired him to embark on his own musical path. Ray was "funkified" by New York, but he also rediscovered his own Indian roots there, and soon after started studying the sarod with Ustad Amjad Khan in Delhi. Now a citizen of Madras, he has collaborated with South Indian ghátam maestro Vikku Vinayakram since 1990, produced pop and percussion albums and composes music for ballet, theater, film and television.

The ensemble MANGALAM, currently a quintet, was founded by Rikhy Ray in Delhi in 1987. Since then, the group has continued to explore new possibilities for integrating modern European harmonies and Afro-American rhythms into the ancient musical tradition of India, thus creating what can be called "Funky Classical Indian Music". The band has three albums out on Magnasound, the Indian major label, and has toured Europe every spring since 1989. In the summer of 1996, the idea was born to do a recording just with Rikhy Ray and MANGALAM's percussionist Chella S. Ganesh (a son of Vikku Vinayakram) who plays ghátam (claypot) and kanjira (a small frame drum) on the record.

The vina (or: veena) is an ancient Indian string instrument, an ancestor of the sitar, sarod and other instruments. In collaboration with technicians at the Ovation company, the vajra vina was invented especially to meet Rikhy Ray's needs for combining the microtone ornamentation of the vina with the harmonic capabilities of the guitar. The concept is based on Rikhy Ray's 20-year-experience with the classical sarod and five years' practice on the legendary Shakti guitar, a present from John McLaughlin. With the album "Mangalam", Rikhy Ray hails the spirit of McLaughlin's legendary Shakti band by adding funky rhythms and jazz improvisation to the ancient Indian tradition.
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