RNH Events presented ‘Remember Shakti’, live in Hyderabad on the 10th of February 2012. They performed live in concert on 10th February at Chowmahalla Palace. The troupe included John Mc. Laughlin on electric guitar, Zakir Hussain on tabla, Selva Ganesh on kanjira, ghatam and mridangam, U. Srinivasan on electric mandolin and Shankar Mahadevan on vocal.
Shakti is one of the first combinations of musicians trying to do something that crossed all musical boundaries. Formed in 1975, Shakti pioneered a groundbreaking and highly influential east-meets-west collaborative approach. The group, whose name means creative intelligence, beauty and power, now consists of legendary British jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, North Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain, mandolin player U. Srinivasan; and kanjira and ghatam [percussion] player Selva Ganesh, both of whom hail from South India. Together, they create a fluid and organic sound that manages to successfully combine seemingly incompatible traditions. Hussain and McLaughlin, along with rotating co-conspirators, are on their current reunion tour of India and Dubai.
An innovator of jazz-rock fusion with Miles Davis and later his own Mahavishnu Orchestra, McLaughlin formed Shakti to explore his interest not only in the music but also in the spirituality of India. He enlisted for the project tabla master Zakir Hussain, violinist Lakshminarayana Shankar and mridangam (the classical drum of South India) players T.H. Vikku Vinayakram and Ramnad V. Raghavan.
The group debuted with the eponymous album Shakti in 1975, making a strong mark on the world music scene, then in its infancy. It introduced to Western audiences the percussion firepower of tabla player Zakir Hussain, who has worked with Western rock stars like George Harrison and Van Morrison. Hussain, later went on to win a Grammy for his 1992 collaboration with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart. After two more albums, A Handful of Beauty in 1976 and Natural Elements in 1977, Shakti disbanded as the members each went their various ways to pursue other projects. But in 1999 the group reunited as Remember Shakti, touring and recording a new double CD of the same name, which appeared in 1999.
They have now added Indian maestro singer Shankar Mahadevan who is one of Bollywood’s brightest and most successful singer / music directors. He is also a Carnatic vocalist and his joining the band is the completion of the Musical Circle!
Month: February 2012.
