A Handful of Beauty

• Artist: Shakti
• Rating:
• Release Date: 1976
• Type: Instrumental
• Genre: Jazz

Review

Shakti headed for the safer confines of a London recording studio on its second album, minus R. Raghavan and minus some of the volatile energy that they generated on their debut record. They were, however, a more integrated, more subtle ensemble now, exploring quieter, more lyrical corners of their East-West fusion, with L. Shankar's spectacular violin and Zakir Hussain's tabla taking the solo foreground as much as, if not more than, McLaughlin's acoustic guitar. With the exception of an arrangement of a traditional South Indian piece "Kriti," McLaughlin and Shankar contribute all of the compositions, which lean even more heavily toward South Indian music with reminders of McLaughlin's Western roots. As a whole, this is less accessible to McLaughlin's jazz-rock flock than the first Shakti album, but still fascinating for contemporary listeners with a yen for world music, as well as curious stragglers from the classical Indian world dominated by Ravi Shankar (another indefatigable champion of East-West fusions). ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track Title	Composers	Performers	Time
La Danse du Bonheur	John McLaughlin, Lakshminarayana Shankar	John McLaughlin, Shakti	(4:52)
Lady L	Lakshminarayana Shankar	John McLaughlin, Shakti	(7:28)
India	John McLaughlin, Lakshminarayana Shankar	John McLaughlin, Shakti	(12:38)
Kriti	Traditional	John McLaughlin, Shakti	(3:00)
Isis	John McLaughlin, Lakshminarayana Shankar	John McLaughlin, Shakti	(15:14)
Two Sisters	John McLaughlin	John McLaughlin, Shakti	(4:43)

Credits

Lakshminarayana Shankar (Violin), John McLaughlin (Group Member), Richard Laird (Photography), Vikku Vinayakram (Percussion), Zakir Hussain (Tabla), John McLaughlin (Guitar), John McLaughlin (Arranger), Lakshminarayana Shankar (Arranger), Lakshminarayana Shankar (Group Member), John McLaughlin (Producer), Dennis MacKay (Engineer), Lakshminarayana Shankar (Vocals), Zakir Hussain (Group Member), Steven Berkowitz (Assistant), John McLaughlin (Guitar (Acoustic)), Zakir Hussain (Percussion), Vikku Vinayakram (Vocals)