Co-Founders John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain Lead Current Lineup On First U.S. Tour In 16 Years<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With Special Guests B\u00e9la Fleck, Bill Frisell and others on select shows Feb 6, 2023: Following word of the Summer 2023 release of This Moment \u2013 their first new studio album in 46 years \u2013 revolutionary world music ensemble Shakti will continue to discover and explore the musical common ground bridging East and West on an extensive U.S. tour, beginning August 17 in Boston. Born in the mid-1970s out of the deep artistic and spiritual connection bonding British guitarist John McLaughlin and Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain, Shakti\u2019s cross-cultural musical conversation dissolved boundaries with uncommon passion, grace, and dexterity \u2013 awakening subsequent generations of musicians to the possibilities of such hybrids in the process. Alongside McLaughlin and Hussain, today\u2019s Shakti features renowned vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram (son of original Shakti ghatam player T.H. \u201cVikku\u201d Vinayakram).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking ahead to the performances, McLaughlin equates the endeavor to a homecoming of sorts. \u201cShakti was born in the USA in 1973,\u201d he reflects, \u201cand is also no stranger to American audiences. We\u2019ve played concerts all over the US from coast to coast and north to south \u2013 and everywhere we\u2019ve played, we\u2019ve had wonderful audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Joining Shakti on more than half of the dates will be another performer dedicated to intermingling and transcending genres, B\u00e9la Fleck, who will open the performances with a solo set. \u201cHearing Shakti was a revelation and I started listening right when they started,\u201d Fleck recalls. \u201cSomething about Shakti, and also making music with Zakir, was very relatable \u2013 perhaps akin to the acoustic guitar and fiddle. But it wasn\u2019t until playing with Zakir and Edgar Meyer [on 2009\u2019s Melody of Rhythm: Triple Concerto & Music for Trio] that I started having more of a sense of what they were up to. Keeping in mind the virtuosic and energetic level of the band, I\u2019ll be attempting to create a solo set that mesmerizes and excites.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, renowned guitarist Bill Frisell will also be opening the Shakti concerts with solo sets on certain selected dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cB\u00e9la Fleck and Bill Frisell are both truly fine musicians whom I\u2019ve admired for decades,\u201d McLaughlin says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the recording of their new studio album now complete, the members of Shakti now await the opportunity to continue their pan-global dialogue. \u201cIn our initial incarnation,\u201d Zakir Hussain concludes, \u201cwe did not always have the time nor the means to explore. Now, with the decades of individual musical experiences we all have poured into this, the result reveals an extraordinary depth and level of interaction within this band.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Preliminary USA Tour Dates<\/p>\n\n\n\n 8.17.2023 Co-Founders John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain Lead Current Lineup On First U.S. Tour In 16 Years With Special Guests B\u00e9la<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[26,30,31,23,19,25,22,21,27,29,20],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
More dates and special guests to be announced at a later date.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Boston, MA
8.19.2023
Port Chester, NY
8.20.2023
Newark, NJ *
8.22.2023
Glenside, PA
8.23.2023
Vienna, VA *
8.25.2023
Atlanta, GA*
8.31.2023
Nashville, TN
9.3.2023
Highland Park, IL*
9.5.2023
Portland, OR
9.6.2023
Seattle, WA *
9.8.2023
Davis, CA **
9.9.2023
San Francisco, CA
9.11.2023
Irvine, CA
9.14.2023
Ann Arbor, MI *
9.16.2023
Austin, TX *
<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
** w\/ Bill Frisell<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"