As Guitar virtuoso John Mclaughlin best known for his works in jazz-fusion outfit "The Mahavishnu Orchestra" delved deeper into eastern spirituality, he developed an interest in the music of South India. Following the collapse of "The Mahavishnu Orchestra" in 1975, Mclaughlin
recruited fellow musicians Lakshminarayana Shankar (violinist), Zakir Hussain (Tabla player) and T.H. "Vikku" Vinayakram and Ramnad V.
Raghavan (Mridangam players) to form the indian traditional/jazz/fusion outfit Shakti.
