Remember Shakti

Remember Shakti
(left to right) Zakir Hussain, U. Srinivas, John McLaughlin, V. Selvaganesh
Background information
Origin	India, United Kingdom
Genres	Carnatic music, world music, jazz fusion
Years active	1997–present
Labels	Polygram Universal Records Verve Records
Members	John McLaughlin Zakir Hussain Shankar Mahadevan U. Srinivas V. Selvaganesh
Past members	Hariprasad Chaurasia T.H. "Vikku" Vinayakram

Remember Shakti is a quintet which combines elements of traditional Indian music with elements of jazz. The band consists of English guitarist John McLaughlin, and Zakir Hussain (tabla), U. Srinivas (deceased) (mandolin), Shankar Mahadevan (vocals), and V. Selvaganesh (kanjira, ghatam, mridangam), who are of Indian descent. The band's name is derived from John Mclaughlin's acoustic Indian fusion band Shakti which was active in the 1970s. This band consisted of John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, L. Shankar, T.H. "Vikku" Vinayakram, and R. Raghavan. The word Shakti translates in Sanskrit to "power" or "goddess of power".

After disbanding in the late 1970s, Shakti enjoyed a twenty-year hiatus before McLaughlin and Hussain decided to reform the band. In addition to John and Zakir, T.H. "Vikku" Vinayakram (ghatam, mridangam), returned for Remember Shakti's eponymous debut UK tour and album in 1997. However, McLaughlin could not locate Shakti's fourth member, violinist L. Shankar, and replaced him with bansuri player Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia for the live recording of this album.