PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS AN UNOFFICAL SHAKTI MYSPACE. I HAVE NO AFFILIATION TO THE MEMEBERS OF SHAKTI BUT WANTED TO FORM A COMMUNITY OF ADMIRES.
Shakti was formed in 1975 by the legendary British jazz guitarist John McLaughlin. The approach of the project was exclusively orientated to East meets West musical arguments.
For this original musical adventure, Mc Laughlin is accompanied by classical Indian instrumentists whose Zakir Hussain on tabla, L. Shankar on violin and “Vikku†Vinayakram on “ghatam†percussions.
McLaughlin’s new exploration in India, raga “world†music is very far from his electric, dynamic jazz rock project “The Mahavishnu Orchestra†and really more into a kind of progressive jazz music including a great variety of instruments from Indian classical music.
The result features long improvisational, collective playings with many intuitive leanings, interactions between sacred melodies and typical “raga†rhythms.
The three main efforts released by the project are the self titled album, “Handful of Beauty†and “Natural Elementsâ€. All recordings melt rather short tracks with sometimes long epic tunes, mixing powerful, technical & emotional acoustic guitar ingredients, to peaceful violin lines and rhythmical like “trance†percussion patterns.
A very relevant illustration of a successful “alchemy†between traditional Indian music and modern European jazz.
