Shakti (band)
| Shakti | |
|---|---|
 Shakti with John McLaughlin, L. Shankar (1976) |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Fusion jazz , world music |
| founding | 1975, 1997 |
| resolution | 1978 |
Shakti was a fusion and world music band with the original line-up from 1974 to 1978 around the English guitarist John Mc Laughlin . With the exception of the band leader , all members came from India , which was extremely unusual in the music scene in the 1970s. The name of the band is derived from the Hindu word Shakti , which stands for divine feminine energy.
history
Apart from McLaughlin, the band consisted of the violinist L. Shankar , Zakir Hussain on the north Indian kettle drum pair Tabla , R. Raghavan on the south Indian double cone drum Mridangam and TH Vinayakram on Mridangam and the clay pot Ghatam . With this line-up, the quintet only recorded three albums. Due to the unique line-up at the time and the novel amalgamation of different musical styles such as jazz , European, North Indian (Hindustan) and South Indian (Carnatic) music, the ensemble attracted enormous international attention, so that the musicians often attended the major jazz festivals between 1975 and 1977 (e.g. at the Montreux Jazz Festival ).
In 1978 McLaughlin turned back to his playing on the electric guitar and played only a few gigs with Shakti, sometimes with a different line-up. In 1997 the guitarist initiated the Remember Shakti project , which was clearly based on the music of the previous group. Besides U. Shrinivas ( mandolin ), V. Selvaganesh (frame drum Kanjira ), Debashish Bhattacharya (guitar), Sivamani (percussion) and other musicians, Zakir Hussain and TH Vinayakram were again involved.
Discography
- Shakti with John McLaughlin (Live), 1975
- A Handful Of Beauty , 1977
- Natural Elements , 1977
- John McLaughlin / Zakir Hussain-Remember Shakti , 1999
- The Believer , 2000
- Saturday Night In Bombay , 2001
literature
- Martin Kunzler : Jazzlexikon , Directmedia, Berlin 2005, ISBN 3-89853-018-3