The four-decade association between visionary guitarist John McLaughlin and percussionist Zakir Hussain is not just about a cross-cultural dialogue; their collaborations mark a unified journey to tap new terrains in music. Shankar Mahadevan grew up idolising these legends and as part of their band Shakti, he complements the geniuses’ musical outputs.
The song ‘Sakhi’, a production created during lockdown, is part of an album Is That So. Speaking from Mumbai, Shankar says, “In our journey of 20 years that we’ve been together as Shakti the band, ‘Sakhi’ was a piece that we used to perform regularly and we used to look forward to this because it’s calm and peaceful. John ji’s guitar riffs and lyrics by Zakir bhai makes it haunting and melodious too. This piece evolved organically.”
Shankar Mahadevan, John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
‘Sakhi’, an interpretation of thumri, peaks to a ‘question-answer’ exchange in between taking a different tempo and ascending like a storm and subsiding to become peaceful again. “It’s a piece that developed slowly and we just went along with it,” says Shankar.
Creating music, virtually
Is That So is a result of a small experiment that Shankar and John attempted. “We started it as fun. I used to do an alaap and John would harmonise it and we would remove the root notes of the alaap and use different scales and pitches, which is normally not done in Indian classical music. So it was a fun thing we started during our tours. I sent him one such piece which he worked on for one month and came up with something so astonishing that we then decided to do the whole album together. That’s how Is That So was born last year.” Apart from ‘Sakhi’, the other collaborative numbers in the album are ‘Kabir’, ‘Tara’, ‘The Search’, ‘The Guru’ and ‘The Beloved’.
Zakir Hussain, Shankar Mahadevan and John McLaughlin from the video ‘Sakhi’ | Photo Credit: ‘Sakhi’ official video
‘Sakhi’ was recorded via ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) with artistes performing from their respective homes — Shankar in Mumbai, John from Monaco, Zakir from California. Despite recording from remote locations, ‘Sakhi’ wins with its seamless flow of spirit and the mood. Watching the video, viewers find nothing amiss. Shankar says it is very convenient to record from remote locations. “It’s easier to collaborate with the artistes. When you are recording with great artistes like Zakir and John, why would you want to guide them, you know they simply play their best. And the project will see the light of day. Otherwise, you have to wait for schedules of the artistes to come together, especially when they are in different places.”
On the flip side, Shankar admits there are disadvantages too. “There are two things we miss while recording from remote locations. While performing on stage we rely a lot on eye contact, a cue communicates what we are supposed to do in the next microsecond. So that gets missed. Of course, the hanging out before and after the concert, laughing at the crazy jokes, the beautiful lunches and dinners we used to order... the physical presence at the location is something we naturally miss. Otherwise execution-wise, we are not missing anything. I think the quality is pretty much the same.”
Having premiered on September 21, 2020, ‘Is that So: John McLaughlin/Shankar Mahadevan/Zakir Hussain: Sakhi’ has over 50,000 views (noted at the time of writing this) on YouTube.