Shakti

Here's a heads-up about an event this week:
The renowned tabla player Pandit Yogesh Samsi, accompanied by Pritam Bhattacharjee of the Pandit Jasraj School of Music, Atlanta, is performing at the Dunwoody Baptist Church Chapel, Thursday, July 1st at 8:00 pm. For more details, visit: http://www.dbc.org/schoolforthearts.

Today's show features a band called Shakti, one of the earlier bands to attempt a fusion of Western and Indian music. It consists of an acoustic guitar, a tabla, a violin and a ghatam. I think the ghatam deserves some explanation, it is a south Indian percussive instrument, well, actually it's a pot made of clay. Most people would keep it upright and use it to store water; Carnatic musicians, however, prefer to turn it upside down and make the weirdest noises with it. But that is a story for another day. Shakti was formed way back in 1975 when John McLaughlin met Ustad Zakir Hussain, it was said to be instrumental on the world music scene, and the result was a blend of hindustani, carnatic, jazz music that the world had never even imagined. Personally, I'm a huge fan of their music - I find it exhilarating - and that is precisely the reason why it is here on Gharana.

Shakti began when John McLaughlin met Ustad Zakir Hussain, this was in 1975. Two others joined in, L. Shankar on the violin, and T.H.Vinayakaram on the ghatam and that was that. The band was a great success, and for the next two years they toured all over the world and produced two albums of incredible music.

Sadly, like Mclaughlin's other attempts at fusion, most notably, the Mahavishnu Orchestra in all its incarnations, Shakti did not last very long. They rarely made appearances after 1977, and they soon faded away. About twenty years later, an attempt at reviving Shakti was made, the new band being called Remember Shakti, you might want to check out their music, it is quite like that of the original band.

Here's the track listing for the day:

Natural Elements
1. Mind Ecology (5:47)
2. Face to Face (5:57)
3. Come on Baby Dance with Me (1:56)
4. The Daffodil and the Eagle (7:00)
5. Happiness is Being Together (4:27)
6. Bridge of Sighs (3:52)
7. Get Down and Sruti (7:00)
8. Peace of Mind (3:22)

A Handful Of Beauty
1. India (12:38)

Avinash Sastry
Gharana Music
WREK Atlanta, 91.1 FM
Mondays, 8-9 p.m.
www.wrek.org
(+1) 404-894-2468
Email: gharanamusicatlanta@gmail.com

Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia

This week on the show, we're featuring the music of the legendary flautist Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. He is an absolute genius on the flute, which could partly explain why he has produced an incredible number of albums - I looked up the list on his website, and it is just endless! He also has a long list of collaborations with literally hundreds of musicians. I've had the pleasure of attending one of his performances, and let me assure you that he is a dream to listen to. He is one of those artists whose work is "audience-friendly", if I may use the term. Personally, I find him very easy to listen to - melodious, easy to catch on to, yet very elegant - it really is very soothing to listen to, especially after a rough day at work.

Now surprisingly, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia comes from a family of non-musicians. In fact, his father was a wrestler, who wanted him to follow in his footsteps. Though he did undergo training to be a wrestler, Pandit Chaurasia started learning music at a friend's house in secrecy. It was only when he was 15, and better at music than wrestling that he was able to receive formal training. He started with vocal music but soon switched to the flute. Even today, he claims that his initial training in wrestling gave him the stamina and control that is characteristic of his style of playing the flute.

Throughout his career, Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia has worked with a lot of musicians. He has put a lot of effort into making Hindustani music accessible to everyone. In particular, he has done a lot of work in collaboration with jazz artists, most notably, with John McLaughlin and the fusion band Shakti.

For more of his music, visit his website, right here.

Today's playlist:
1. Raag Madhuvanti (15:08)
2. Raag Mishra (10:30)
3. Raag Sindhi Bhairavi (6:11)
4. Raag Bageshree (10:42)
5. Raag Mishra Shivaranjani (10:43)

Avinash Sastry
Gharana Music
WREK Atlanta, 91.1 FM
Mondays, 8-9 p.m.
www.wrek.org
(+1) 404-894-2468
Email: gharanamusicatlanta@gmail.com