Asian Underground -- as spurious a genre as there's ever been -- has been hot for a while now, but most people would be hard-pressed to name any pioneers of this sound other than Talvin Singh. For those looking to dig deeper, though, August provides a good opportunity to catch two of the more interesting strands in East-West fusion.
If one were to locate ground zero in this movement, it would have to be the Indo-jazz fusion of Shakti. Formed in 1975, when jazz-rock wunderkind John McLaughlin (of Return to Forever and the Mahavishnu Orchestra) put aside the electric guitar and picked up a specially designed acoustic guitar, one with scalloped frets and extra resonating drone strings that allowed him to emulate the style of the Indian vina. Along with tabla wizard Zakir Hussain, violinist L. Shankar, and ghatam (clay pot) percussionist Vikku Vinayakram, Shakti electrified audiences with live sets of blazing virtuosity, blending the free- form exploration of modal jazz with the more structured improv of the raga.
Shakti only released three albums, but they remain legendary ones. After a two-decade hiatus, the band is back as Remember Shakti, with slightly different members. The new unit features the liquid mandolin of U. Shrinivas and explosive ghatam of V. Selvaganesh, along with the core duo of McLaughlin and Hussain, who seem to have lost none of the electrifying speed of their youth. (Anyone who thinks Talvin's fast on the skins had better strap on their seat belt for Zakir.) As their recent CD release, "The Believer," shows, the performers have an almost telepathic ability to follow and develop any strand that arises, taking the music to ecstatic highs.