Shakti with John McLaughlin - Natural Elements [CBS Master Sound]

Label: Columbia
Catalog No.: COL-489773-2
UPC: 5099748977328
Musicians: John McLaughlin; Zakir Hussain; L. Shankar; T.H. Vikku Vinayakaram
Recorded: July 1977 / Aquarius Studios, Geneva
Produced By: John McLaughlin


Track List:
1 Mind Ecology 5:47
2 Face to Face 5:58
3 Come on Baby Dance with Me 1:58
4 The Daffodil and the Eagle 7:03
5 Happiness Is Being Together 4:28
6 Bridge of Sighs 3:52
7 Get Down and Sruti 7:02
8 Peace of Mind 3:22


About the album (AMG):
The third and final Shakti recording from the '70s. The songs here are shorter than those on Shakti and Handful of Beauty, but no less impressive. The novelty of combining Eastern and Western musical styles had worn off and McLaughlin sounds comfortable. This allows for memorable compositions and interchanges, rather than the blistering virtuosity that characterized the first two releases. From the intense ("Daffodil and the Eagle") to the joyful ("Happiness Is Being Together"), Natural Elements stands as a milestone in McLaughlin's illustrious career.


About the Artists:
Ustad Zakir Hussain
Does he need an introduction? A child prodigy, who held a concert on his own at a young age of 7. His father, Ustad Allah Rakha Khan, was the best tabla player that India ever saw. "Ustad" is an Urdu word that means "Master". He took the baton from his father's hands, and has maintained such a lead on others since, that a music lover once in a while shudders at the thought of "after him, who?"


You don't know what a tabla is? Here's what it looks like. It is one of the several Indian versions of percussion instruments with two sets of drums - one for the low frequency, and the other for the mid-high range, well…mostly, although this can be adjusted to some extent. The drums are played with fingers and the palms.


The man never got the kind of popularity in India that he did abroad, probably the reason why he chose to migrate to USA, disguising the move under a philosophical garb that he wanted to unite the East and West. In his long career of more than 40 years, he has collaborated with the best of the best jazz musicians. But none of the projects have been able to make a solid mark on the global music scene. Why? I think being a good instrument player is vastly different from being a good composer, which may be the case here. Gavin Harrison's Rhythmic Illusions has probably sold more copies than this man's albums. Of course, that is not a reflection on this man's magical play of percussion. The sheer playing genius of this man remains under-appreciated, and is likely to be so forever. Not to mention, string players have always stolen the limelight while the men in the dark corner beat the crap out of their drums with sticks.

A comment on Indian classical music tradition
Indian classical music had always been a means to express one's devotion to the existence/nature/almighty. It was never pompous and therefore, no concerts were ever held by the musicians. So much so that they despised the idea of recording their compositions on paper. The result was that no two renderings of a composition were alike. Musicians always extemporized according to the environment and the mood, keeping just the opening and closing piece of the composition intact while playing freely in between. They played with intensity, devoid of any predetermined notions about the note-sequences. It was this "natural" rendition that made the Indian classical music stand apart from the rest of the world genres. I will not use the words "better" or "superior" because music is subjective, but Indian classical style of rendition has something penetrative that finds its way to the listener's soul the way no other genre does. True to the Indian classical music tradition, Zakir's father did not favor the idea that he wanted to jazz his beats with the western musicians. Perhaps, he should have listened. Because, in my opinion, this great player has so far produced nothing worthy of his capabilities.

L. Shankar
This man, co-founder of the fusion group, Shakti, is one of my favorite musicians of all time, and the best of the four on this record. Like Zakir, this child prodigy, too, started early, holding concerts before he was 10. He plays a stereo double violin designed by him, and plays it bloody well. To me, I have never listened to better violin-play than his. An apology to Jean Luc Ponty - you're good, mate, but please sit in the audience alongside the rest of us, when this man plays. Anyone who has attended any of his concerts can tell how masterful this guy is. Oh, the speed, the finesse, and the accuracy…simply spellbinding!


Here's a little biography:
L. Shankar (violin) is an acknowledged virtuoso of the violin. Born into a renowned family of musicians, he is the son and disciple of V. Lakshminarayana. Both of Shankar's parents were vocalists and his entire family was into music. Shankar started learning vocal techniques at the age of two. His parents were not just Carnatic vocalists, but had a fair bit of exposure to world music. His father was trained in Indian classical music. His mother L Sitalakshmi played the veena while his father sang and played the violin.

At the age of five, Shankar started learning violin. By seven, he gave his first public concert at a temple in Ceylon during a festival. Early in his career he built a considerable reputation as an accompanist to masters of the South Indian vocal tradition, such as Semmangudi Srinivasar, Chembai Vaithyanatha Baghavatar and Alathur Srinivasa lyer. He was also a member of a unique violin trio with his brothers L. Vaidyanathan and L. Subramaniam. L. Shankar extensively performed with Palghat Mani, known as the greatest mridangam player of all time.

In 1969 he left India and settled in the United States.

As a soloist and collaborator with such performers as tabla master Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram, he has been at the forefront in expanding the horizons of Indian music throughout the world. He has received numerous awards including Best Violinist Award from the Madras Music Academy in 1982. Shankar's numerous collaborations with Western musicians have brought him new international audiences. His association with guitarist John McLaughlin, first as a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and then as co-founder and co-writer of Shakti, a group that included John Mclaughlin, Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram, brought him critical acclaim throughout the world.

Shankar is a virtuoso vocalist / violinist whose vocal range covers five octaves. His 1980 release, Who's To Know, and Phil Collins' solo debut, Face Value, introduced the unique sound of Shankar's own invention, the 10 string stereophonic Double Violin, to listeners around the world. Shankar along with his niece, the violin virtuoso Gingger, are the only musicians that have mastered and currently play the Double Violin. The Double Violin, designed by Shankar and built by Ken Parker, covers the entire range of the orchestra's double bass, cello, viola and violin, and is the only one in the world. The combination of Shankar's haunting vocals, double violin and also as a composer has brought him worldwide acclaim as an innovator. His unmistakable sound has been heard over many albums.

In 1982 Shankar formed the pop/rock group Sadhu, later known as the Epidemics, with British composer, vocalist and keyboardist Caroline. Their two albums included a wide array of pop stars as guest Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel, John Mclaughlin, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Yoko Ono and Sting among others.

Shankar collaborated with Peter Gabriel on the song Across the River for the premiere of the Nomad double album Music and Rhythm that included tracks from David Byrne, Pete Townsend, etc. Shankar's own song, Himalaya, was the album's single, which he wrote, sang and produced. Other projects have included the Sun City Album (Artists Against Apartheid), The Princess Trust Rock Concerts, featuring artists such as Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bee Gees, Joe Cocker and others, and the United Nations Peace Day Festivals which included Bob Geldoff, Bono (Us) and Yoko Ono, among many others. The rock extravaganza Human Rights Now World Tour in 1988, featured his own group, who were joined in performance by Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel, in addition to several other musicians. In 1993, he completed a long world tour with Peter Gabriel (Secret World Tour), as a special guest, singing and playing violin, besides performing with his own band in several places. The tour ended at the Woodstock Festival in 1994.

Shankar co-produced a one hour BBC film directed by award winning director, H.O. Nazareth. The film featured live concert footage of Shankar in Bombay, India. It was nominated as one of the best documentaries at the Cannes Film Festival. Shankar has also worked on many soundtracks included Jacob's Ladder, Jennifer 8, Robin Hood, and the Grammy award winning and controversial The Last Temptation of Christ, in which he co-wrote 13 of the tracks with Peter Gabriel. He has also worked as a composer, arranger, producer, singer, violinist and performer with Frank Zappa, Phil Collins, Talking Heads, Lou Reed, Marianne Faithful, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, U2, The Pretenders, Echo & The Bunnymen, John Lydon (Sex Pistols) and Dave Stewart, among many others.

In 1996, Shankar formed a duo with fellow violinist Gingger. Touring internationally as "Shankar & Gingger" since 1996, they have garnered both critical acclaim and a growing fan base, performing at world evens such as The Concert for Global Harmony and Nelson Mandella's 80th Birthday celebrations. Shankar and Gingger's first release in the DVD-Audio format, which presents the music in stunning six channel surround sound, One in a Million was released worldwide on Silverline Records August 7, 2001.

Most recently, in the fall of 2001, Shankar & Gingger completed an extensive tour to sold out audiences all over North America. It was a complete critical success, and also helped them to take their incredible careers to unprecedented new heights. Their pop DVD, One in a Million, became the #1 DVD in the country, spending 4 weeks at #1 on the U.S. Soundscan / Billboard charts. Shankar & Gingger have always been involved in different idioms of music, from Pop / Rock to World Music. In 2002 they recorded and appeared on six albums in these different genres of music. Their Pop album ("Shankar & Gingger"), One in a Million features guest artists Phil Collins, David Paich (Toto), Steve Vai, Steve Porcaro (Toto), Mike Porcaro (Toto), and Tony Levin, among others.

T.H. Vikku Vinayakaram
Vinayakram is responsible for the progress and development as well as popularizing of the ghatam. Born to Kalaimani T. R. Harihara Sharma, a talented musician and superlative teacher, "Vikku" took up playing at a very young age.

Ghatam is an earthern pot, or a pitcher used to store water in summers in India. Water seeps through its pores to the outside, meets hot air, and evaporates, thereby taking away the heat of the inside water with it. Of course, there are other uses - like playing music.


He was a child prodigy, with his concert career beginning at the age of 13. The year of birth of the Ghatam Maestro is 1942 & his arangetram was on March 5, 1955, when he was just 13 at the Sri Rama Navami festival - Tuticorin, where he accompanied V.V.Sadagopan. He established his right to be on the stage by playing with such dexterity that he was soon accompanying many famous vocalists in Carnatic music at the time, including Mangalampalli Balamuralikrishna, G. N. Balasubramaniam, Madurai Mani Iyer, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, M. S. Subbulakshmi and Maharajapuram Santhanam, among others. His brother, T. H. Subhashchandran, also excelled in the field. The Ghatam followed the master by rising to fame as a percussion instrument that required nimble fingers and strong stomach muscles to control the mouth of the pot.

Vikku's tryst with the international music platform came in the early 70's when he joined Shakti to play along with John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. The showman that he is, his long hair and nimble fingers had Shakti catapult to fame. He has also performed at Basant Utsav, the annual fund raiser for the Banyan.

Vikku Vinayakram is Principal of Sri Jaya Ganesh Tala Vadya Vidyalaya in Chennai, India - the academy established by his late father and teacher in 1958. It continues to produce new stars of Carnatic percussion. Vinayakram's son V. Selvaganesh is a world-famous percussionist in his own right.

How did T H Vinayakram get the name of Vikku? The Western bands of which T.H.Vinayakaram was a part found it easy to refer to him as Vikku — a name suggested by MS’s daughter Radha Viswanathan during the 1966 tour of the US when MS sang the memorable & historic concert at the United Nations.

John McLaughlin
I think we all know a lot about him already. So, I will not go into his biography. All I can tell you is that his guitar playing is unlike any other western guitarist you may have heard. Deeply influenced by Hindustani classical music, his guitar playing is aimed at gliding over the notes & sub-notes seamlessly, although impossible to achieve with a guitar, but true to the genre's philosophy.






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