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.
Mind Explosion, which is accessible on the streaming platforms and will soon be available in India on vinyl and CD format, has been released by Abstract Logix. It contains six tracks featuring the final line-up of John, Zakir, Mahadevan, Selvaganesh and violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan.
It’s the fourth Shakti/ Remember Shakti live album, and also shows how they moved from acoustic to electric and even use of the guitar synthesiser. The self-titled debut album, released in 1976, featured the iconic track Joy. The album Remember Shakti, with Chaurasia, was released in 1999, and Saturday Night In Bombay, recorded at the erstwhile Rang Bhavan the following year, had a guest appearance by santoor legend Shivkumar Sharma on the 26-minute Shringar.
Though Saturday Night also featured Mahadevan, he played an increasing role in the later avatars of Shakti. Thus, his vocals are fairly prominent on Mind Explosion, and he gets into an assortment of vocal acrobatics on the opening track Kiki, reciting names of various deities. One may wonder why they again chose Giriraj Sudha, adapted from a Thyagaraja composition based on ragam Bangala, as it has already appeared on Saturday Night and This Moment. Though it has its fans, it’s also being perceived as an overplayed and predictable track.
The extremely popular Lotus Feet, which had an incomplete recording in the debut album, features Ganesh’s melodic violin, vocal passages by Mahadevan and John’s guitar synthesiser. The instrumental piece 5 In The Morning, 6 In The Afternoon is reminiscent of vintage Shakti, with some lightning riffs and pulsating percussion, and the thumri-inspired Sakhi has Mahadevan in top form. The album concludes with Shrini’s Dream, a charming tribute to Srinivas, with plenty of konnakol and sargams.
Obviously, shortlisting only six tunes would have been difficult, and barring Lotus Feet, this selection only represents the last 25 years. One wishes they had used some older tunes not released in live format, and perhaps the 17-minute take of Bridge Of Sighs, featuring ‘guest’ Vikku in the January 2023 concert in Mumbai. Besides Mahadevan’s presence, an obvious difference is Ganesh’s violin style, which is a total contrast to L Shankar but has its own charm.
Shakti has different generations of fans. A small percentage may have heard them in the 1970s, when they did shows across the US and released the first three albums. Some would have been first exposed to them during the 1984 tour of India, and others when Srinivas was an active member in the early 2000s. And there may be those youngsters who saw them only two years ago, their jaws dropping.
These fans would have their own preferences. The older ones may not accept the vocals, and the newer ones would probably be unaware of the group’s evolution. Yet, Shakti has moved with the times, and Mind Explosion showcases their legacy in a grand manner.
