Upcoming Events

Kirtidan Gadhvi Raas Garba Dhamal: Raleigh, NC (September 23, 2023)

Triangle Gujarati Association presents a night of raas, garba and dhamal with a live performance by Kirtidan Gadhvi on Saturday, September 23, 2023, beginning at 6:30pm. The event is supported by HSNC. Food will be available for purchase. It will take place at NC Expo Center, 4825 Trinity Rd., Raleigh, NC. For more details call 919-353-0550 or visit the website Nctga.org.

World of Bluegrass: Raleigh, NC (September 26 - 30, 2023)

The International Bluegrass Music Association moved its annual business convention and festival to Raleigh in 2013. The event features, a trade show, convention, showcases, and a street festival. Many well-known regional and international performers have been lined up for the events taking place September 26 – 30, 2023 in downtown Raleigh. All the details are available at Worldofbluegrass.org.

Aishwarya Majmudar Rangtaali: Charlotte, NC (September 30, 2023)

Friends of Charlotte present a night of garba and raas with singer Aishwarya Majmudar and band on Saturday, September 30, 2023 beginning at 7pm. The show will take place at the Cabarrus Arena, 4751 State Hwy 49, Concord, NC. For more details, call 704-915-2939 or 803-412-1805.

Global Mela: Atlanta, GA (October 28 – 29, 2023)

The annual Global Mela will take place Sat – Sun, October 28 – 29, 2023, 11:30 am – 7pm both days at Global Mall, 5675 Jimmy Carter Blvd., Norcross, GA. There will be lots of food, clothing, jewelry, dances, performances, a DJ, raffles, kids’ activities and more. Entry and parking are free. For more details, call 770-416-1111 or visit Amsglobalmall.com.

Find more events at: saathee.com/events

The UN has declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets. Read our informative article about this nutritious ancient grain.

Go Straight to Recipes Page Here: Lots of delicious recipes found in Saathee are gathered here

Karishma Khosla (NC / SC) 631-357-7021 khosla.karishma@gmail.com

Bhavin Patel (SC / NC) 803-517-9935 brec2725@gmail.com

Durga Bhavani Yerra (NC) 408-685-1923 durga.yerra@gmail.com

Krishan Kumar (NC) 980-221-5146 krishan.dce@gmail.com

Aashis Lamsal (NC) 605-690-4156 alamsal.realestate@gmail.com

Vishnu Veera (NC) 704-776-5007 vvishnu@gmail.com

Vidyullatha Uppuluri (NC) 337-292-7872 uvidyullatha@gmail.com

by Samir Shukla

Shakti Celebrates 50 Years

A meeting of musical maestros can create new horizons and genres, essentially new languages. Imagine a day, say some 50 years ago, a jazz guitarist meets a tabla player and later a ghatam player, and a Carnatic violinist. The musicians have informal jam sessions, write compositions, create new musical possibilities and hybrids. They called themselves Shakti and to say this world music combo broke barriers and boundaries is an understatement.

John McLaughlin the trailblazing guitarist, who has played with numerous legends and is a guiarists’ guitarist in his own right, led the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 70’s. He began working with Ustad Zakir Hussain in 1973 and later met violinist L. Shankar and ghatam player T.H. “Vikku” Vinayakram to form Shakti. After releasing pioneering world fusion recordings, mixing jazz, rock, Hindustani & Carnatic music, they disbanded in 1978.

New Album and Tour

The 2nd iteration of the band happened in the late 90’s, as the band reformed with Shankar Mahadevan on vocals, U. Srinivas on mandolin and Selvaganesh Vinayakram replacing his father Vikku. The band created new dimensions of music with their improvisational repertoire.

Sadly, after the tragic passing of U. Srinivas in 2014, the band was put on pause again. In early 2020 the group reemerged with violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan joining the combo for a couple of sold-out concerts. As the pandemic shut the world down, Shakti began recording together, virtually, online.

Now McLaughlin and Hussain – with the fully fused combo of Mahadevan, Selvaganesh, and Rajagopalan –have released a new recording called This Moment (Abstract Logix) and are touring to mark their 50th anniversary.

Kolkata born and Cary, NC-based music lover Souvik Dutta has been working with Shakti since 2003, when he worked with them on a tour selling merchandise. He was a 25-year-old “bored, young software engineer at IBM,” as he recalled and took time off from the company to go on tour with Shakti and sell merch at shows. Since then and over the years he has become their “man at the helm” as described by Zakir Hussain and released their new recording via his company Abstract Logix.

He also organized and manages their current 50th anniversary tour.

After a European jaunt in June and July, Shakti is touring the United States in August and September.

I spoke with Hussain and Mahadevan just before they headed to Europe for their tour. Below are edited versions of our conversations.

Shakti will perform live at Koka Booth Amphitheater, Cary, NC on Sunday, August 27, 2023. For additional tour dates and tickets info, visit Shakti50.com.

Interview with Zakir Hussain:

Samir Shukla:

Can you talk about the new album as well as the 50th anniversary tour?

Zakir Hussain: We’ve been talking about if for some years. Last time Shakti went on the road which was I think almost 10 years ago with the great maestro U Srinivas, the genius mandolin player. We were already working on some material to be able to go into the studio and record. And then Srinivas ji decided to leave us and go home and I mean I definitely believe he was a spirit from somewhere else, some divine place, they decided it was time for him to go home and he left us (U Srinivas passed away in 2014) we were all totally broken. It just stopped everything and with Covid we started to communicate with each other more on the internet and stuff and I started doing things with other musicians, and John ji and Shankar bhai all started doing the same thing.

It just us led to interacting on the waves and we thought we can do this on the waves. Why not try to resurrect the album in honor of Srinivas. We (McLaughlin, Mahadevan, Hussain) did an album called Is That So, which was a prayer like album. That came out during that period. So, it encouraged us to move forward in doing this. That’s how it all came about. At that time we didn’t realize it was going to be 50 years by the time we get this package together and then here it is. It is 50 years.

Souvik Dutta is our man at the helm and runs everything for us and makes sure we have everything we need to move forward in our creative process. And this album coming in 2023, it would be 50 years and we said oh boy…my first reaction was that I feel old, but looking at John ji who is 82 and looking at him as a sprightly young older gentleman in the prime of his health. It inspired all of us. And Ganesh ji came along and he was someone I was already working with regularly. John ji and Shankar bhai asked me if we should try out Ganesh in the band. They suggested since I was already working with Ganesh ji should we try him out, and I said absolutely. He is a very important cog in the current sound of Shakti which actually harks back to our original sound with the great L Shankar the violin maestro who was a founding member of the original Shakti. It was great to make that full circle with that sound in a new understanding and sonic layers that kind of make it relevant and valid for the present time.

Shukla: I thought the same listening to the new record that it has the original vibe, but it sounds new.

Hussain: Yes, and what’s going to be interesting is to get on the stage and expand that vibe of the record. As you know the record pieces are of a certain length and we get on the stage and open it up for discussion. It evolves even further. I know by the time we arrive in your neck of the woods, the shape and the form would have risen into something that I’m sure is wondrous and profound and very exciting to listen and watch. That improvisation is such a major part of Shakti’s DNA, it’s going to allow us to be able to experience this music differently each time we get on the stage. Therefore, come up with so many different shapes and forms. This is something amazing about Shakti, the five of us coming together and the whole group is kind of like one mind, one thought, one heartbeat, one rhythm.

How that happens in a situation where music depends on spontaneity, and largely on improvising and creating on the spot. It’s uncanny. Coming from different backgrounds, Bollywood, South Indian traditions and classical and jazz, the epitome of what improvised music is. We are talking the same music language without even attempting to cross any boundaries or fences because suddenly, they don’t exist. To be able to do that, construct and reconstruct every time we get on stage and know exactly where to put the pillars and drive the nails and put the window in, without any direction from any of us to any of us. I wonder why we don’t record every concert and release them like the Grateful Dead.

Shukla: What can we expect at the concert?

Hussain: I’m expecting it to be joyous and happy, see the ecstasy that is going to be circulating from our union together from the audience. Forget any cares that are existing outside of the concert hall at that time. People can take this moment with them at home ready to face the world again. We played in India earlier this year because the record had not come out yet, so we were asked to play the stuff from way back when. So now with starting in Europe the record is coming out we are going to incorporate that stuff and waiting to see how it will come together. Put it all into one story, one telling. Take people through the journey we have had through the decades. We will regale in that. Bela Fleck will open solo n Cary. He was such a Shakti fan that he sought me out. If we are in concert and there is a moment where he can peep into our room, (and maybe join us). Spontaneity will carry us.

Shakti continued on page 88