19. Shakti - India Beat 3

I was at a Royal Charity Concert called SHAKTI, the day before yesterday evening at the Merdeka Hall of Putra World Trade Centre. An evening of Indian classical fusion and jazz music, the show was in aid of The Malaysian Tenpin Bowling Congress, The Taman Megah Handicapped & Disabled Children's Home and The Temple of Fine Arts.

It was a show with a difference. They were dubbed the ultimate carnatic band to have left the shores of India to tour the world. All its world tours have been to capacity audiences and standing ovations culminating in a Grammy award nomination.

The Quintet consists of John Mclaughlin on the guitar, Zakir Hussain on tabla, U Shrinivas on mandolin, Shanker Mahadevan - vocals, and Selvaganesh on percussion. The two and half hour show to a capacity audience kept them totally mesmerised from start to finish.

It was totally jazz fusion of sorts. The electric guitar and the madolin string sounds reverberated and added richness and depth to the tabla and percussion, bridging classical and non-classical in a very harmonious way known only to their exponents. It was a very skillful alchemy of jazz and Indian sounds producing an outcome both new and surprising

All five are world reknowned and are masters of their art and have performed world wide to capacity audiences, received numerous accolades and awarded highest honours in music by the Indian Government.They are musical giants in their field with many years of experience and experimentation, having grouped and ungrouped from many performers and instrumentalists throughout their careers. It was hence a blending of the best there is.

It was a delightful evening and a show to remember and I hope we have more such shows in Malaysia for all to enjoy and to appreciate the universality of music uniting peoples of the world.