Hamburg, July 27: In honour of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s visit to Hamburg, Germany, a benefit (charity) concert was held in the cultural hall of Kampnagel earlier on Wednesday.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama began a ten-day visit to the German city of Hamburg on 19th of this month. His Holiness’ visit is due to conclude tomorrow with a public talk on Secular Ethics and Education at Rothaus Arena in Freiburg, Germany.
John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussein with their group Shakti thrilled the fully packed hall of Kampnagel, the most well known cultural hall of Hamburg.
The concert opened with Tibetan Singer Loten Namling performing the Tibetan Shaman “Drekar” wishing happiness and peace to all. Having given a taste of authentic Tibetan culture to the 1500 spectators, the main stars of the evening converged on the stage.
John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussein were accompanied by two other musicians, who gave a spectacular performance. Zakir Hussein specially dedicated the evening to the six million Tibetans.
John McLaughlin, born 1942 in Yorkshire (Great Britain) is one of the most famous Rock guitarists in the world. At the beginning of the Sixties, his path crossed the one of Georgie Fame and Blue Flames. He was on stage with Alexis Korner and had spent six months in Germany with the Gunter Hampel Band. At the age of 26 in 1968 he started his first own project and formed a band with John Surman, Tony Okley and the bassist Brian Odges. One year later his first album ‘Extrapolation’ came out.
John McLaughlin’s interest in religion, culture and music of India reaches back into this period of time. That the human being is more than what can be seen through the eye makes him look for literature at the Theosophical Society of London.
Zakir Hussein, a famous tabla-virtuoso, U. Srinivas, mandolin-player, and V. Salvaganesh, percussion, are members of Shakti. During a tour in Europe in 2000, the album ‘The Believer’ was produced. Another exceptional mixture of Jazz and Indian music, and ‘Saturday Night in Bombay’ was produced in 2001.
Christoph Spitz, the main organiser of the event thanked all the artists for playing without remuneration and in honour of the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Hamburg. A possible surplus of the concert is to be donated for charitable purposes.
Based on report filed by Loten Namling
