RX: To overcome la morta, a serving of Beethoven's 9th symphony. Freude! Freude!

Shakti - John McLaughlin-lead fusion circus - makes me happy, if not sublime, every time I play its records; how can one not be happy given the jazz-like drive these musicians bring to what can be quite staid Indian classical music, and given the infectious enjoyment with which they make this music? Here is a drumming-jam "le danse du bonheur" from the original team:

Oi ma! How young Zakir Hussian is in this recording! Also the same track from a Shakti revival tour with a much older Zakir, as well their fab retake of the staple of Carnatic classical circuit, St. Thayagaraja's kirthi "Giriras Sudha".

Since the sun has decided to show its face after three days of cloudy viscid light, since the song sounds so much like one of Nick Drake's, since it is set in one of the greatest cities in the world (SF, a city I would have chosen to live and work in if I wasn't entangled with someone in NYC when I got my job), since it has all these shiny bouncing balls, and because I am in the mood to be charitable towards Sony today: