Shakti - Mind Explosion - 50th Anniversary Tour Live

[mjzee]

Release date August 1:

John McLaughlin (Guitar, Guitar Synth), Zakir Hussain (Tabla, Chanda, Madal, Konokol), Shankar Mahadevan (Vocals & Konokol), Ganesh Rajagopalan (Violin, Konokol), Selvaganesh Vinayakram (Kanjira, Mridangam, Ghatam, Konokol)... 2025 Release. Recorded live throughout their globe-spanning 50th anniversary tour in 2023, Mind Explosion is the final album from vanguard world fusion ensemble Shakti. To be released on Abstract Logix, it contains a selection of performances carefully curated from countless hours of concert recordings by co-founding guitarist John McLaughlin and Shakti master percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram. Mind Explosion is a rapturous celebration of the life, music, and humanity of Zakir Hussain - not just McLaughlin's original partner in Shakti, but a brother and inspiration to every past and present member of Shakti - who passed away in December 2024. "I am eternally grateful to Zakir," McLaughlin reflects, "because he was there before the beginning of Shakti to the very end." Mind Explosion features the Shakti of the past two decades - Hussain, McLaughlin, Vinayakram, and Shankar Mahadevan (vocals) - plus Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin), who came aboard several years ago, on a program of material ranging from Shakti's 1976 debut album to extended versions of two compositions from their GRAMMY™ award-winning 2023 album This Moment. Throughout, the revolutionary ensemble's virtuosity, deeply felt kinship, and entirely unique hybrid of eastern and western traditions is on full, glorious display. "What else can epitomize the history of Shakti if not the final live recording?" McLaughlin asks. "Now that it is completed, I find it to be absolutely superb: Heartfelt, deliriously joyful, and masterly all at the same time. It is our greatest achievement."