Shakti - The acoustic music band
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Shakti (meaning creative intelligence) is an acoustic music group widely considered to be the pioneers in fusing the music of the East and West. The group was formed by the legendary British guitar player John McLaughlin and Indian violin player L. Shankar at Wesleyan University, Connecticut in the early 1970s where McLaughlin was studying the vina (an Indian stringed instrument). They were joined by Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram, both virtuosi in the tabla and ghatam (Indian percussion instruments) respectively.
Shakti recorded just three albums between 1975 and 1979 and produced some daring, exuberant and technically brilliant music combining odd rhythmic meters with intense melody. In order to articulate microtonal variations, a distinguishing feature of Indian classical music (called "gamaka"s in Carnatic music) McLaughlin used a special guitar (designed by Abe Wechter) with a scalloped fretboard and added seven sympathetic strings across the bridge to facilitate fast and subtle string bending, heard on almost all Shakti songs.
The group disbanded in 1979 and was re-formed in its current configuration without Vinayakram, replaced by U. Shrinivas on mandolin and V. Selvaganesh (Vinayakaram's son) on kanjira (a percussion instrument). The group is now called Remember Shakti and performs occasionally.
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