L. Shankar : Shakti Violinist Honoring Zakir Hussain

Master violinist/vocalist/composer L. Shankar (aka Shenkar) is renowned for his deeply soulful performances of Indian classical music. Since playing his first solo concert at the age of seven, he has gone on to accompany many of South India's leading vocalists and become a major soloist of Indian classical music. In the 1970s, with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, and with Vikku Vinayakram, and Ramnad Raghavan, he co-founded the legendary Indo-jazz group Shakti and pioneered the sound of Indo-Jazz. He is considered an early architect of "World Music".

In the 1980s, he created a 10-string double violin capable of covering the whole range of the orchestra's string section from violin to double bass. Shankar has released over 20 albums and dozens of unique and legendary collaborations including many recordings and tours with artist such as Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, PIL, Talking Heads, Amnesty International tour with Bruce Springsteen, Sting, U2 and even Steven Van Zant's Sun City Anti-Apartheid release. Shankar co-wrote the Grammy nominated soundtrack, Passion, music for the film Last Temptation of Christ with Peter Gabriel, and has gone onto compose and perform for many other film, television soundtracks and scores. An early supporter and fan was Frank Zappa, who called Shankar "the best violinist on the planet". He signed Shankar to Zappa's record label and produced one of Shankar's early albums. To date Shankar has continued to expand the international audience for Indian music, often combining North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) styles. His albums on the iconic ECM label have become benchmark recordings of Indian classical music for the masses.

For this rare Chicago performance Shankar will perform a handful of classic Shakti songs he composed and Indian classical ragas. He will be accompanied by an all star trio of percussions including fellow Shakti family members V. Selvaganesh, who is a Grammy Award winning member of Remember Shakti and has toured with Zakir Hussain's Masters of Percussion many times and also the son of original Shakti member Vikku Vinyakram; on tabla is Amit Kavthekar, a longtime student of the late great Zakir Hussain and his father Alla Rakha. Amit is regarded as one of the top-ranking tabla players of his generation; and Swaminathan Selvaganesh, who has been lauded as one of the top kanjira players of his generation and the son of V. Selvaganesh and grandson of Vikku Vinyakram. All four musicians have deep ties and connections with the legendary tabla player Zakir Hussain who this special concert is dedicated to.

L. Shankar: violin, voice
V. Selvaganesh: mridangam (double-headed barrel drum), kanjira (small frame drum), konakkol (vocal percussion)
Amit Kavthekar: tabla (tuned hand drums)
Swaminathan Selvaganesh: kanjira, konakkol

Presented by People of Rhythm with Old Town School of Folk Music and supported by South Asian Classical Music Society of Chicago.

More information: https://www.oldtownschool.org/concerts/2025/10-10-2025-l-shankar/