Boundary-defying quintet’s final recording honors departed co-founder and master percussionist Zakir Hussain with 'our greatest achievement.'
—John McLaughlin
Shakti did not spend their fiftieth anniversary standing still, idly collecting laurels and accepting tributes for their decades of fearless musical alchemy. Instead, they acknowledged their vast influence with decisive action, recording their first new studio album in more than 45 years—the GRAMMY award-winning This Moment—and embarking on an extensive international tour that put them before audiences across India, Europe and the United States, complete with opening sets from longtime Shakti admirers Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Bill Frisell, and John Scofield.
Just over a year from the tour’s conclusion, as preparations were underway for further Shakti performances, tragedy struck. “A curtain came down on a monumental part of my life on December 15th, 2024,” reflects co-founding guitarist and composer John McLaughlin. “After 55 years of countless concerts, recordings, travels, meals, and laughter together, my Indian Brother Zakir, departed.”
“The loss of Zakir is the end of this chapter,” McLaughlin continues, “but I am eternally grateful to Zakir, because he was there before the beginning of Shakti to the very end.” In recognition of Hussain’s immense contributions—not only as a percussionist and a friend but as a catalyst to greater human understanding through the universal language of music—Shakti’s remaining members have prepared one last offering: Mind Explosion: 50th Anniversary Tour Live, to be released by Abstract Logix on July 26, 2025.
Featuring the final Shakti lineup of McLaughlin (guitar, guitar synth), Hussain (tabla), vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram, Mind Explosion was recorded throughout the 2023 tour, featuring expansive and invigorating explorations of material spanning the full length of Shakti’s existence—from “Lotus Feet” (heard on Shakti’s 1976 debut) to extended versions of This Moment’s “Shrini’s Dream” and “Giriraj Sudha.” An incredibly vital, riveting collection of performances, Mind Explosion is characterized by the same curiosity, hunger, virtuosity, and receptiveness present at the founding of Shakti in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1973, when McLaughlin began informally jamming with Hussain. “There wasn’t a first meeting,” Hussain recalled in 2023. “It felt like a reunion of long-lost brothers…”
That connective brotherhood and reciprocal enrichment extends to the Shakti’s present-day incarnation. “I think every single musician in India would have loved to be part of Shakti,” explains vocalist Mahadevan, who joined the group over twenty years ago. “I thank the almighty that I was the chosen one to be part of this group, with these maestros who are not only musicians—they are my gurus.”
Selecting material for Mind Explosion was daunting, both in terms of emotional heft and sheer volume of possible choices: Most of the anniversary tour performances were recorded, leaving McLaughlin and co-producer Selvaganesh Vinayakram with hours of music to review. “I listened to a number of shows,” McLauglin explains, “but I have to take my cap off to Selva ji, because he listened to many more than me and did an excellent job of filtering out shows with audio problems and finding those moments where the spirit was more present.”
McLaughlin is quick to identify the presence of an audience – many of whom were not born when Shakti made their initial forays into what eventually became known as world music – as a key elevating factor, lending fiery passages added intensity while bringing a profound resonance to more languid moments. Returning to this music, even in the wake of overwhelming loss, was as thrilling to the performers as it will be to listeners. “When you are performing every other night—sometimes every night—you remember the particularly great nights for a day or two, but they are quickly swallowed up by the new performances,” says McLaughlin. “So, when you finally listen to the recordings months later, the surprises can be even more than delightful.”
The last word on an incredible legacy, Mind Explosion is more than a celebration of Zakir Hussain’s seemingly endless capacity for innovation, joy, and love – it is a tribute to the camaraderie, dedication, and seismic passion behind one of modern music’s most influential and uncategorizable outfits. “What else can epitomize the history of Shakti if not the final live recording?” McLaughlin asks. “The title Mind Explosion is very close in meaning to the Sanskrit word nirvana—mind blowing in the sense of overwhelming bliss or ecstasy. Now that the album is completed, I find the title to be absolutely appropriate: The music is heartfelt, deliriously joyful, and masterly all at the same time. It is our greatest achievement.”
“For me,” Mahadevan echoes, “the music of Shakti is an amazing combination of soul, complexity, precision, and high level of musicality. It was like being in a musical university of life.” “I have had quite a number of musical formations, some of them truly outstanding in my career,” McLaughlin reflects—looking back on a journey that includes not only his own classic solo albums and epochal recordings and performances with his Mahavishnu Orchestra but also trajectory-altering forays alongside Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Carlos Santana, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia, and others. “But,” he concludes, “Shakti stands above all of them.”
Just over a year from the tour’s conclusion, as preparations were underway for further Shakti performances, tragedy struck. “A curtain came down on a monumental part of my life on December 15th, 2024,” reflects co-founding guitarist and composer John McLaughlin. “After 55 years of countless concerts, recordings, travels, meals, and laughter together, my Indian Brother Zakir, departed.”
“The loss of Zakir is the end of this chapter,” McLaughlin continues, “but I am eternally grateful to Zakir, because he was there before the beginning of Shakti to the very end.” In recognition of Hussain’s immense contributions—not only as a percussionist and a friend but as a catalyst to greater human understanding through the universal language of music—Shakti’s remaining members have prepared one last offering: Mind Explosion: 50th Anniversary Tour Live, to be released by Abstract Logix on July 26, 2025.
Featuring the final Shakti lineup of McLaughlin (guitar, guitar synth), Hussain (tabla), vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan, and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram, Mind Explosion was recorded throughout the 2023 tour, featuring expansive and invigorating explorations of material spanning the full length of Shakti’s existence—from “Lotus Feet” (heard on Shakti’s 1976 debut) to extended versions of This Moment’s “Shrini’s Dream” and “Giriraj Sudha.” An incredibly vital, riveting collection of performances, Mind Explosion is characterized by the same curiosity, hunger, virtuosity, and receptiveness present at the founding of Shakti in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1973, when McLaughlin began informally jamming with Hussain. “There wasn’t a first meeting,” Hussain recalled in 2023. “It felt like a reunion of long-lost brothers…”
That connective brotherhood and reciprocal enrichment extends to the Shakti’s present-day incarnation. “I think every single musician in India would have loved to be part of Shakti,” explains vocalist Mahadevan, who joined the group over twenty years ago. “I thank the almighty that I was the chosen one to be part of this group, with these maestros who are not only musicians—they are my gurus.”
Selecting material for Mind Explosion was daunting, both in terms of emotional heft and sheer volume of possible choices: Most of the anniversary tour performances were recorded, leaving McLaughlin and co-producer Selvaganesh Vinayakram with hours of music to review. “I listened to a number of shows,” McLauglin explains, “but I have to take my cap off to Selva ji, because he listened to many more than me and did an excellent job of filtering out shows with audio problems and finding those moments where the spirit was more present.”
McLaughlin is quick to identify the presence of an audience – many of whom were not born when Shakti made their initial forays into what eventually became known as world music – as a key elevating factor, lending fiery passages added intensity while bringing a profound resonance to more languid moments. Returning to this music, even in the wake of overwhelming loss, was as thrilling to the performers as it will be to listeners. “When you are performing every other night—sometimes every night—you remember the particularly great nights for a day or two, but they are quickly swallowed up by the new performances,” says McLaughlin. “So, when you finally listen to the recordings months later, the surprises can be even more than delightful.”
The last word on an incredible legacy, Mind Explosion is more than a celebration of Zakir Hussain’s seemingly endless capacity for innovation, joy, and love – it is a tribute to the camaraderie, dedication, and seismic passion behind one of modern music’s most influential and uncategorizable outfits. “What else can epitomize the history of Shakti if not the final live recording?” McLaughlin asks. “The title Mind Explosion is very close in meaning to the Sanskrit word nirvana—mind blowing in the sense of overwhelming bliss or ecstasy. Now that the album is completed, I find the title to be absolutely appropriate: The music is heartfelt, deliriously joyful, and masterly all at the same time. It is our greatest achievement.”
“For me,” Mahadevan echoes, “the music of Shakti is an amazing combination of soul, complexity, precision, and high level of musicality. It was like being in a musical university of life.” “I have had quite a number of musical formations, some of them truly outstanding in my career,” McLaughlin reflects—looking back on a journey that includes not only his own classic solo albums and epochal recordings and performances with his Mahavishnu Orchestra but also trajectory-altering forays alongside Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Carlos Santana, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia, and others. “But,” he concludes, “Shakti stands above all of them.”
