Remember Shakti 
June 19th, 1999 
Berlin, Germany @ Haus der kulturen der welt
Digital FM/SBD > ? > CDR

1.
2. 5 In The Morning, 6 In The Afternoon
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4. Ma No Pa
5. Lotus Feet
6. Maya


The Reincarnation - Avataar II \
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By 1999, John had completed his commitments with the Heart of Things band and was ready to pursue his interest with the newly formed Shakti. It is unclear as to how and why the group members changed, but it could have been due to other commitments of the musicians, but a new Remember Shakti group emerged which included John, Zakir and two new members who were very well respected musicians in the Indian carnatic music circles \'d0 U. Srinivas on the Mandolin and V. Selva Ganesh (the son of Vikku). 
U. Srinivas is a child prodigy who is very well known and revered in Indian classical music circles. He started to play the mandolin at a very early age and has pioneered the use of a western instrument like a mandolin in carnatic music. \
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Selva Ganesh Vinayakram is the son of Vikku Vinayakram, one of the original members of Shakti. Chella Selva Ganesh had carved a niche for himself in the carnatic and fusion music circles as a maestro of the Kanjira. Selva Ganesh had already been playing in the carnatic music circles since early childhood and along with his younger brother Uma Shankar were quite well known. With such illustrious lineage and influences, joining the next generation of Shakti was only natural. Since then Selva Ganesh has found a name for himself in the international music circles and toured extensively with Jonas Hellborg and Shawn Lane, and has recorded quite a few albums. \
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Selva Ganesh had also played in the Indo/Jazz fusion settings with a Shakti influenced group called \'d2Mangalam\'d3 which was formed by german guitarist Rikhi Ray. Rikhi Ray in the individual that John gifted his famous Shakti guitar too during his 1984 tour of India. \'d2Mangalam\'d3 was so influenced by Shakti that they have acknowledged the fact in the liner notes of their albums and also recorded an album entitled \'d2Monkey in Shakti\'d5s Shadow\'d3. \
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Along with the new young generation of carnatic musicians \'d0 U. Srinivas and Selva Ganesh, his old comrade accompanied John from the original Shakti \'d0 Ustad Zakir Hussain. This completed the quartet that has been touring as Remember Shakti since summer of 1999. They have had occasional guests join them on stage, but this core quartet has remained unchanged. \
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This incarnation of Shakti has released two albums and each has been assembled from live performances of the group. The first released was the album \'d2The Believer\'d3, which was assembled from live performances in Europe, 1999. \
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The second album was also a live album that resulted from a mini Shakti festival of sorts held in Mumbai, India on December 8th and 9th, 2000. The performances of those two nights were recorded and released in an aptly titled album \'d2Saturday Night in Bombay\'d3, reminiscent of the earlier Guitar Trio album \'d2Friday night in San Francisco\'d3. Your webmaster was fortunate enough to be able to make a special trip to Mumbai for these shows and it was truly a historical gathering of the \'d2who\'d5s who\'d3 of Indian classical music that included Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Shankar Mahadevan, Sivamani, Taufiq Quereshi, A.K. Pallanivel, Bhavani Shankar, Dabashish Bhattacharya to name a few. \
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This current group has been consistently touring since 1999 and aside from a break in 2002, the group has toured every year since then. Pandey. All rights reserved.\
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