Shakti (meaning creative intelligence) was an acoustic music group widely considered to be the pioneers in fusing the music of the East and West. The group was formed by the legendary British guitar player John McLaughlin, along with the Indian violin player Lakshminarayana Shankar at Wesleyan University, Connecticut in the early 1970s where McLaughlin was studying the vina (an Indian stringed instrument) and Shankar was completing his PhD in ethnomusicology. They shared a vision of not only fusing Indian classical music and jazz, but also fusing the hitherto disjoint musical styles of North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) music. They were joined by Zakir Hussain and T.H. "Vikku" Vinayakaram , both virtuosi in the tabla and ghatam (Indian percussion instruments) respectively.

Shakti recorded

The group disbanded in 1979 and was re-formed in its current configuration without Shankar and Vinayakaram, replaced by U. Shrinivas on mandolin and V. Selvaganesh (Vinayakaram's son) on kanjira (a percussion instrument). The group is now called Remember Shakti and performs occasionally.