Reliving an Extraordinary Friendship: Shakti Remembers Zakir Hussain

It will be a solemn moment, no doubt. On 14th December, four members of the Indo-jazz fusion group Shakti will get together onstage for the first time since tabla maestro and founder-member Zakir Hussain passed away last year. As part of a two-day tribute to Hussain on his first death anniversary, guitarist John McLaughlin, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, vocalist Shankar Mahadevan and kanjira exponent V. Selvaganesh will join other musicians in a special concert called ‘Forever Friends’ at the Jamshed Bhabha Theatre.

The last time Shakti played together was on 17th September 2023, in Austin, Texas, the final stop of the band’s 50th Anniversary Tour. In February 2024, Shakti won the Grammy for Best Global Music Album for This Moment. Hussain would win two more Grammys that day—Best Contemporary Instrumental Album for As We Speak with Béla Fleck and Best Global Music Performance for Pashto. McLaughlin couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony in Los Angeles, but the others got together and celebrated. Almost 18 months later, in August 2025, Shakti released its last album Mind Explosion, a selection of live recordings from their last tour, as a tribute to the departed genius. Much to the delight of fans, the new release is among the nominations in two categories at the forthcoming Grammy awards—Best Global Music Album and Best Global Music Performance for the song ‘Shrini’s Dream (Live)’. The winners will be announced on 1st February 2026.

For five decades, crowds across the world basked in their music. From Madrid to Mumbai, California to Kolkata, Shakti drew packed houses. Music of the guitar mingled with that of the violin and mandolin. The ghatam and kanjira revelled in percussive mastery. Hussain charmed in his flowing hair, colourful kurtas and lightning-speed solos on the tabla. They had fun, and so did their audience.

McLaughlin says his love, gratitude and affection for Hussain are eternal. “In losing Zakir, I have lost my brother. Since our first concerts in 1973 to our last in 2023, we have had countless magical performances, countless meals together and laughter to last a lifetime,” he says. 

Shakti started playing together as a group four years after McLaughlin and Hussain first met in 1969 in New York. McLaughlin was attracted to Indian music, yoga and philosophy. He learnt the veena from S. Ramanathan, and became a disciple of spiritual guru Sri Chinmoy, who named him Mahavishnu. After playing with trumpeter Miles Davis and drummer Tony Williams, McLaughlin formed the jazz-rock band Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971, which became successful with the albums The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire.

After the meeting with Hussain in New York, they stayed in touch and met again in 1972, when they played at sarod maestro Ali Akbar Khan’s residence in California. Soon, one thing led to another. McLaughlin met mridangam player Ramnad Raghavan, who introduced him to violinist L. Shankar. At that time, Hussain and Shankar were regularly touring the US, playing Indian classical music. Soon, the idea of  starting an Indo-jazz fusion group was born, and Shakti was formed, with ghatam exponent Vikku Vinayakram joining. 

In an earlier interview with this writer, Hussain recalled their association. He said, “John ji has always shown me the way, and been tolerant of my slip-ups. Meeting him was a pivotal moment in my life. Him accepting me as a colleague was a milestone moment for me. It was indeed the time when everything changed going forward for me.” Though Shakti did regular concerts, they recorded their first track ‘Joy’ at Southampton College in New York in July 1975. Over the next two years, they released three albums— Shakti with John McLaughlin, A Handful of Beauty and Natural Elements. The records, released by CBS, did exceedingly well. The legendary guitarist Carlos Santana described Shakti as the most intense music he had heard.

During that phase, Hussain tried to balance his classical career with his fusion experimentation. Shakti would tour at certain times of the year, and he spent the rest of the time focusing on his teaching assignment at the Ali Akbar College of Music in San Francisco. He once told this writer, “I was also playing concerts with Khan saab and he was concerned, as were my father (Ustad Allarakha) and Ravi Shankar ji, that I would neglect my classical performances. But I was very focused on keeping my Indian classical life at the forefront. It was also helpful that Shakti did not tour India when it was first formed.”

Shakti’s first tour of India took place in 1982, though McLaughlin had to back out because of a hand injury, and American jazz guitarist Larry Coryell filled in. In 1984, the band undertook a multi-city tour of the country, this time with McLaughlin, and spawned a new set of fans. Soon, however, Vinayakram decided to focus on running his percussion school in Chennai, and the other members got busy with other projects. Shakti took a break. 

Almost a decade later, McLaughlin and Hussain thought of reviving the group, though Shankar had other commitments. They called themselves Remember Shakti. Flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia played with them for some time, and later mandolin prodigy U. Srinivas joined. By 2000, the line-up would include McLaughlin, Hussain, Srinivas, vocalist Shankar Mahadevan and Vinayakram’s son V. Selvaganesh, who played the kanjira. Their 2001 live album Saturday Night in Bombay thrilled fans and critics. One reviewer from All About Jazz wrote, ‘If one were to indulge in measurement of international jazz, Saturday Night in Bombay would be the yardstick.’

Remember Shakti continued touring the globe till 2014, but tragedy struck when Srinivas passed away following an ailment. The band didn’t play for many years until it invited violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan to join. In addition to being on the album This Moment, Rajagopalan was also part of the 2023 world tour.

Rajagopalan had known Hussain since the late 1990s, and he and his brother Kumaresh played many violin duets with the tabla maestro. He had also met McLaughlin, who liked their music. In 2017, the Shakti members asked him whether he would like to join the group. He recalls, “I asked John ji: How should I start? He said there are 100 Shakti pieces, and I had to learn all of them.”

The violinist says that Hussain opened many doors for him, and playing with Shakti was “a totally different way of understanding what music can do. It’s a divine experience. John ji never insisted that my violin should sound the way it did in the earlier Shakti records. He told me to just play from my heart, in my way.”

Besides members of Shakti, the Forever Friends evening will feature a performance by musicians from Hussain’s group Crosscurrents, comprising American saxophonist Chris Potter and British bassist Dave Holland. Keyboardist Louiz Banks, guitarist Sanjay Divecha, bassist Sheldon D’Silva and drummer Gino Banks, who have toured with Crosscurrents, will also be performing. Hussain’s brother, percussionist Taufiq Qureshi, who has helped curate the tribute, says, “We are fortunate to have some of Zakir bhai’s closest collaborators and friends in the tribute.” The idea is to remember Hussain’s all-embracing approach to music. McLaughlin says, “For 50 years, joy was the unshakeable foundation of Shakti. We brought joy to each other and to listeners. There will be a continuously growing admiration, appreciation and understanding for the genius of Zakir.”

The Ustad will surely be watching from above, and responding with his characteristic ‘Wah’.

By Narendra Kusnur. This piece was originally published by the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Mumbai, in the December 2025 issue of ON Stage – their monthly arts magazine.