Is that So: John McLaughlin/Shankar Mahadevan/Zakir Hussain: Sakhi

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To a world seeking to heal itself from the blight of a fearsome pandemic, John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain offer a new recording of their expansive, collaborative incantation “Sakhi” -- recorded via ISDN from each artist’s respective home. Available for free on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter the performance is a gripping testament to the profound awe, wonder, and spiritual intensity unleashed when these three iconic figures join together.

The miles melt away, as McLaughlin (in Monaco), Hussain (in California), and Mahadevan (in Mumbai) fluidly trade supporting and soloist roles, delighting in one another’s musicianship and intangibly conveying the song’s message of support and trust. ”Sakhi” translates to “friend” in Hindi, and was featured on the trio’s full-length collaboration, Is That So?, released this past January on Abstract Logix/Mediastarz.
Visionary guitarist and composer John McLaughlin first captured international attention as a facilitator of audacious, gripping new directions in music in the bands of Miles Davis and Tony Williams in the late 1960s, appearing on such pivotal albums as Emergency! and Turn It Over by the Tony Williams Lifetime and Davis’s Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way, and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. His own music came to the fore on a pair of early solo albums, before he founded the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971.
“The 1960s were turbulent years due to my constant searching for answers to the great questions of existence: Who am I? and why am I in this Infinite, mysterious universe?” reflects McLaughlin today. “As it was difficult to find answers in the West, I and many others sought answers in the East and India in particular, where these questions have been addressed for thousands of years. Indian music has always been inseparable from the ways of enlightenment. I am a jazz musician. Indian music and jazz share the fundamental element of spontaneous improvisation.” McLaughlin’s playing was similarly broadened by flamenco traditions, as demonstrated by his extremely popular and influential trio albums with fellow guitarists Paco De Lucia and Al Di Meola.
When the original Mahavishnu Orchestra lineup dissolved in 1974, McLaughlin deepened his connection to Indian music with his revolutionary band, Shakti. In Shakti, McLaughlin began playing, composing, and improvising alongside percussionist Zakir Hussain. Across three LPs, Shakti awakened a cross-cultural dialogue whose implications are still being explored -- both by McLaughlin and Hussain and by the generations of musicians who were inspired by their dynamic, trailblazing sonic hybrid.

While their collaboration now spans more than four decades, McLaughlin and Hussain continue to discover fertile new terrain. Hussain is one of India’s foremost musical alchemists, with a legacy of bringing his virtuosity on the tabla into bold new contexts. He was the recipient of the first ever Grammy Award for Best World Music Album in 1992 for the album Planet Drum, a collaboration with the drummer Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead

The third element in the “Sakhi” performance (and the Is That So? album) is the rapturous voice of Shankar Mahadevan. An artist of immense prominence and popularity in India, Shankar is renowned as both a vocalist and a composer of songs for India’s thriving film industry. He began working with McLaughlin as part of the Remember Shakti project, which sought to continue to develop ideas first posed by the original incarnation of the Shakti ensemble. Is That So? was born from an experiment where McLaughlin tried accompanying Mahadevan’s Indian vocal improvisations with Western harmonies. “The whole texture, color, feeling and the canvas of the music excited us, as harmonic content does not exist in Indian classical music,” Mahadevan recalls.

The richness and potential of this meeting of innovators is perfectly embodied in the new “Sakhi” video. Coloring the performances with washes of orchestral guitar synth, McLaughlin is a subtle, adept accompanist to Mahadevan’s passionate vocals. As Hussain’s tablas begin to simmer, McLaughlin moves into soloist mode, answering and conversing with his collaborators with astonishing alacrity.

“I have been working and playing with tabla maestro Zakir Hussain for almost 50 years, and with Shankar Mahadevan for 20 years,” McLaughlin concludes. “I can say categorically, that their influence on me as a musician and human being is without equal, and our recording Is That So?, is one of the greatest milestones in my musical life.”
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Видео Is that So: John McLaughlin/Shankar Mahadevan/Zakir Hussain: Sakhi канала Abstract Logix