# Exhilaratingly hopeful single “Mohanam”. “Shakti will always be Shakti,” said McLaughlin: It has its own identity: Video, Photos

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2023/01/29/exhilaratingly-hopeful-single-mohanam-shakti-will-always-be-shakti-said-mclaughlin-it-has-its-own-identity-video-photos/
- Published: 2023-01-29T00:02:31+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**Born of an immense degree of both soul-searching and woodshedding, Shaktiemerged
in the early 1970s – shattering the barriers between Eastern and Western music with
an ecstatic, soulful hybrid that knowingly embodied both traditions while setting
out for uncharted musical terrain.**

Shakti’s catalyst was the meeting of guitarist and composer John McLaughlin and 
tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain. Both had already achieved a certain degree of notoriety
in their musical domains. John, through his association with Miles Davis and his
immensely successful group The Mahavishnu Orchestra: Zakir through his amazing classical
work and his collaborations with the California music scene.

Hussain and McLaughlin had become friends in 1969 and met musically one evening 
at the house of the late great Ali Akbar Khan. To quote McLaughlin, “It was a revelation
playing with Zakir.” McLaughlin subsequently began studying the Vina with Dr. S.
Ramanathan and through him met with Dr. L. Shankar himself a head at the South Indian
Music department at Wesleyan University and by 1973 had brought Zakir, violinist
L. Shankar and the head of the percussion department Ramnad Raghavan playing the
mridangam for the very first time.

![John McLaughlin & Shakti "Joy" acoustic fusion music & Indian music jazz.](https://
i0.wp.com/www.differentmusic.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Remember-Shakti-with-
john-mclaughlin-Zakir-Hussain-001.jpg?resize=640%2C426&ssl=1)

It was at once, a marriage of the tonal and rhythmic intricacies of classical Indian
music with the immediacy and soul of Jazz. This first formation of Shakti recorded
its first live recording in 1975 and released in 1976.

Their unprecedented music awakened subsequent generations to the rich, untapped 
potential of such pan-cultural fusions and helped to create what is now known as“
World Music.” While the initial lineup of Shakti disbanded in 1978, Hussain and 
McLaughlin have periodically resurrected the Shakti group for live performances 
and concert recordings – but have not released a new studio album since 1977’s Natural
Elements…until now.

“Mohanam” is the first new studio music from Shakti in more than 45 years. Drawn
from the upcoming album This Moment (to be released on CD and vinyl in the summer
of 2023 by Abstract Logix), the track glimmers with optimism and wonder as it moves
with unhurried grace through a series of instrumental movements that acknowledge
Shakti’s formidable legacy while proposing new routes. “‘Mohanam’ is a joyful piece,”
explains McLaughlin, “and joy is the inherent nature of the Shakti group.”

The lineup featured on “Mohanam” – McLaughlin (guitar) and Hussain (tabla) are featured
alongside vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, and percussionist
Selvaganesh Vinayakram (son of original Shakti ghatam player T.H.“Vikku” Vinayakram).
On “Mohanam,” Hussain and Vinayakram are also featured on konokol – a traditional
and demanding form of Indian vocal percussion.

![Zakir Hussain Meets Berklee - Ustad Zakir Hussain Tabla Solo - YouTube](https://
i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/LAwgD_YxRgM/maxresdefault.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

“This track harkens back to the Mohanam raga track from the second Shakti album,”
says Hussain, “but dresses the mode sonically into where we are today. The arrangement,
the quality of the recording, the instrumentation, the addition of vocals, and the
harmonic undertones all suggest today’s Shakti while paying respect to the first
Shakti quartet.” The performers’ virtuosity is certainly undimmed by time, with 
McLaughlin’s guitar impossibly fleet, moving between jazz chromaticism and more 
modal, Indian harmonies. In addition to stirring solo statements, Rajagopalan’s 
violin, Mahadevan’s voice, and McLaughlin’s guitar also execute nimble unison passages–
all over the roiling, hypnotic undercurrent of Hussain and Vinayakram’s percussion.

“In our initial incarnation,” Hussain reflects, “we did not always have the time
nor the means to explore. Now, with the decades of individual music experiences 
we all have had poured into this gathering’s offering, the result reveals an extraordinary
depth and level of interaction within this band.”

“Shakti will always be Shakti,” concludes McLaughlin. “It has its own identity, 
its own nature – joyful – and character: daring. These are in the DNA of Shakti,
which will never change.”

![Shakti - Shakti With John McLaughlin | Releases | Discogs](https://i0.wp.com/i.
discogs.com/91KKey5AF83XQSeb68XWUrRJimDRCMCpdoxMKgaFVUM/rs%3Afit/g%3Asm/q%3A90/h%
3A598/w%3A600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTIyNDg1/NjQtMTMzMDA1MjQx/
MS5qcGVn.jpeg?resize=640%2C638&ssl=1)

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