A Grand Finale For Shakti

Sound Of Music

- Narendra Kusnur

In 50 years of existence, Indo-jazz fusion group Shakti has prominently been a live band. Though they had the brilliant studio albums A Handful Of Beauty and Natural Elements in the 1970s, and the Grammy-winning record This Moment two years ago, a large chunk of their following has been built up through their energetic and mesmerising live shows.

It's thus appropriate that their final release, titled Mind Explosion: 50th Anniversary Tour Live, is a collection of live recordings, picked from various concerts they had across India, the US and Europe in 2023. During these performances, nobody could imagine the tragic December 2024 loss of the great tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, who along with British guitarist John McLaughlin, has been the band's pillar since inception. As such, this album is a tribute to his genius.

Shakti (and its adapted form Remember Shakti) has gone through various line-ups and transitions, with different phases featuring violinist L. Shankar, flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and mandolin wizard U. Srinivas, who passed away prematurely in 2014. While ghatam maestro Vikku Vinayakram accompanied Zakir till the late 1990s, his son, kanjira player V. Selvaganesh took over later. Vocalist Shankar Mahadevan joined in 2000.