2:50 PM Set of the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 10.15.23 Supruli is a NYC-based choir devoted to the traditional folk and liturgical polyphonic singing tradition from Georgia Led by Carl Linich, the choir features Leo Decristoforo, Marina Decristoforo, Ezra Halleck, Sarah Kessler Wolven, Jay Laubscher, Sunny Lawrence, Sarah Leitao, Luka Linich, Sarah Mullins and Addie Grace Mahdavi
Manik Khan (sarod) + Sudhakar Vaidyanathan (tabla) pay tribute to Manik’s father, Ali Akbar Khan. 2:30 AM Set of the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 2022 Originally broadcast on WKCR-FM The next festival is happening 10/18-19 at Pioneer Works, tix and info at www.ragaslive.com
2:00 AM set of the 24 hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 10.20.24 U. Rajesh (mandolin), Harshad Kanetka (tabla) and Swaminathan Selvaganesh (kanjira) at the Ragas Live Festival More details and tix for this October at Ragas Live Festival
It was an incredible thill to hang with Jaimoe, the legendary drummer of the Allman Brothers at WKCR 2014. To hear Jaimoe's song selections from the program, check out this playlist on spotify. Jaimoe shared stories and dug through our record library. When asked if he had a good time, he said "That's a f#$ng understatement!" Also joining us was Alan Paul the band's official biographer and s Coltelli a jazz critic and force for good in music. This was during the Allman Brothers last run of shows ...
Joe Boyd is a legendary producer who helped bring artists like Pink Floyd, Nick Drake and Toumani Diabate to the world alongside producing classic albums by Toots and the Maytals, REM, Taj Mahal and countless others. His new book is " And the Roots of Rhythm Remain " and it is an astounding and inspiring history of music from around the globe. I can't recommend it enough. Joe Boyd will be at the The Local in Saugurties March 18, and April 9th at The Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn ....
Jay Gandhi (bansuri) and Ishaan Ghosh (tabla) perform Rag Malkauns at the Ragas Live Festival 2024. 12:30 AM set of the 24 hour event. A multifaceted artist, Jay Gandhi’s music is at once reflective of his devotion to his Guru, the inimitable legend of the bansuri, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, as well as a diverse range of other musical influences. Jay’s initial training in Hindustani music was under Smt. Kum Kum Sanyal (vocal) and later in bansuri under Pt. Ronu Majumdar and Pt. Raghunath Seth. Ins...
Two of our favorite artists, Saraswathi Ranganathan (veena) & Swaminathan Selvaganesh (kanjira) returned to Ragas Live Festival 2024 for a late night/early morning set of Carnatic music. It was 5:30 AM set of the 24 hour festival at Pioneer Works on 10.20.24 and Saraswathi led the audience on a journey. Saraswathi brings with her a legacy of firsts. She is the first Indian woman and Veena artiste to win a Chicago Music Award in its 35-year history, the first Veena artiste to perform as an or...
We hang a maestro of Bulgarian music, Lubomir Smilenov, and hear his incredible performance from Ragas Live Festival 2020 with Matt Moran. Both performers will be featured at this weekend's Zlatne Ustne Golden Festival January 17-18 in Astoria, Queens. Lubomir Smilenov, born in Bulgaria and raised in New York City, found a unique expression of his heritage through the Kaba Gaida, the traditional Bulgarian bagpipe. He learned the intricate skills of this ancient instrument in Midtown Manhattan, w...
New York's greatest music bash, the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival is returning to Astoria Queens, January 17-18, 2025. Over 50 ensembles particiapte on several stages and dancefloors, brass bands, polyphonic choirs...Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romani, Turkish, Serbian, Greek, Persian, Klezmer, you name it... after 39 years of this festival it has evolved to become one incredible party. In this episode Jerry Kisslinger a founding member of Zlatne Uste and Pontic Firebird, shares some burning tracks and...
The most mind-blowing message I ever received was from the multi Grammy winning, ground-breaking kora master, Toumani Diabate, in 2020. Recorded hours earlier in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa it was a live performance he made with his sons Ahmed Diabate and Balla Diabate to contribute to that year's virtual Ragas Live Festival. "Was it ok?" He asked. OK? It was astounding! In this special episode we celebrate the life of Toumani Diabate by sharing the behind the scenes messages behind this miraculo...
This was the second interview we conducted with Zakir Hussain, who passed away on December 15, 2024. More than any other musician who came before him, he brought the tabla to an international stage. His story, like the man, is legend. I hope our conversation encourages you to dig deep into his rich catalog of astounding recordings including his own Making Music, all the Shakti albums, Planet Drum, stunning classical recordings with Ali Akbar Khan, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia; his tab...
An unbelievable live performance featuring 2024 Grammy Award winner Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin) and Anantha R. Krishnan (mridangam) as broadcast on WKCR from the Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works in 2024. You can hear our conversation after the set on the previous podcast. A virtuoso since childhood Ganesh Rajagopalan has been performing on stage since the tender age of 7 years old. He has been dazzling audiences for 50 years, most recently with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and the Shakti e...
After an incredible set with Anantha R. Krishnan (mridangam)at Ragas Live Festival, we caught up with THE violin maestro, 2024 Grammy Award winner Ganesh Rajagopalan, for a quick on-air conversation about his journey in music. A child prodigy who began performing at the age of seven, Ganesh rose to stardom performing with legends like tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and guitarist John McLaughlin of Shakti fame as well as for his solo violin work with Oscar-winning Bollywood music director A. R. Rahm...
A memorable performance from Slowspin at the Ragas Live Festival 2024 featruing Zeerak Ahmed (vocals+electronics), Grey Mcmurray (guitar), Marlon Patton (drums) Shahzad Ismaily (bass) This was the 9PM set on October 21st, the 4th set during 24 hours of continuous music at Pioneer Works, in Red Hook Brooklyn. US-based Pakistani artist, Slowspin (Zeerak Ahmed) has a distinct sound practice grounded in North Indian classical vocal traditions, dream-folk, ambient and experimental-electronic music. B...
Ud. Bashir Khan ( bulbul tarang ) and Ud. Feroz Khan (tabla) perform Rag Desh on 10/19/2024 at the Ragas Live Festival 2024 at Pioneer Works. This was a very rare presentation of Raga on the Bulbul Tarang a unique instrument used more often in folk music and light classical from Pakistan and India. The instrument was created in Japan in 1912 based on the concept of combining the mechanics of a typewriter with a musical instrument. By the 1930s the instrument had arrived in India and was adapted ...
7PM set of the 24 hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 10.19.24 Ragas Live Festival 2024 opened with this beautiful set: Seema Gulati (sitar) and Anirban Roy Chowdhury (Tabla).
The grand finale of 24 hours of music at Pioneer Works! The Afghan superstars Houmayoun Sakhi (Rubab) and Salar Nader (Tabla) perform an explosive set of music.
This is the penultimate set from the Ragas Live Festival 2024 that took place during 24 hours of continuous music at Pioneer Works October 19-20th in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Debashish Bhattacharya Trio featuring the "world's greatest slide guitarist" Debashish Bhattacharya - Hindustani Slide Guitar and Pushpa Veena Anandi Bhattacharya - Vocals Subashish Bhattacharya - Tabla Subscribe to hear the rest of the festival!
Catching up with "the world's greatest slide guitarist" Debashish Bhattacharya and the amazing singer Anandi Bhattacharya before they take off for Ragas Live Festival 2024.
As excitement builds for their performance this Fall at the Ragas Live Festival , we have a chat with Afghan superstars Homayoun Sakhi & Salar Nader. As the standard-bearers of Afghan traditional music, rubab master Homayoun Sakhi and tabla virtuoso Salar Nader carry the rich and varied legacy of classical compositions and folk melodies of this ancient Central Asian nation. At the heart of this musical odyssey lie the enchanting sounds of the rubab, Afghanistan's revered 21-stringed lute, re...
We get to hang with Michael Gordon, the prolific composer, co-founder/co-artistic director of Bang on a Can! Michael Gordon’s music merges subtle rhythmic invention with incredible power embodying, in the words of The New Yorker ‘s Alex Ross, “the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz and the intransigence of classical modernism.” Over the course of his composing career, Gordon has produced a strikingly diverse body of work, ranging from large-scale pieces for high-energy ensemb...
We hang with the great multi-instrumentalist, singer, song leader, composer and instrument designer Mark Stewart! I'd been dreaming of doing this interview for years, and the upcoming Bang on a Can LOUD Festival (August 1-4 at Mass MoCA) was the perfect catalyst to make this finally happen. As musical director for Paul Simon’s band, he has recorded and toured with Simon since 1998. A founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the duo Polygraph Lounge with keyboard & theremin wizard R...
Ragas Live Festival 2023 opened with this stunning sitar set from Gaurav Mazumdar—legendary disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar—accompanied by Umesh Banerjee on the tabla. 8PM Set of the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 10.14.23 Ragas Live Festival is produced by Pioneer Works in collaboration with NYC Radio Live, Brooklyn Raga Massive and the Society for Arts and Culture of South Asia. We’re pleased to announce Ragas Live Festival will return to Pioneer Works on October 19–20, 2024: http:/...
This was an incredible chance to sit down with a living legend of music: Reggie Workman. In 1961, Workman joined the John Coltrane Quartet, replacing Steve Davis. He was present for the saxophonist's Live at the Village Vanguard sessions, and also recorded with a second bassist (Art Davis) on the 1961 albums, Olé Coltrane and Africa/Brass . Workman recorded frequently through the 1960s and performed with such icons as Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Freddie Hubbard, Lee...
We hang with the legendary bassist of the Meters at his home in New Orleans! George Porter Jr. founded The Meters in 1965 alongside Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste. Known as one of the progenitors of funk with Sly & The Family Stone and Parliament Funkadelic, The Meters carved their own place in history with syncopated polyrhythms and grooves inherited from New Orleans’ deep African musical roots. Porter’s heavy pockets and fat notes created the rubbery bass lines be...
This was a meeting of musical royalty from Mauritania, vocalist Noura Mint Seymali, with her husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly on fretless electric guitar collaborating for the first time with Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Jay Gandhi (bansuri flute) and Ehren Hanson (tabla). It was a spontaneous and beautiful meeting of two musical worlds, broadcast live at WKCR and very much inspired our whole Africa/India Series.
Derek Gripper has miraculously discovered the ability to bring the dazzling polyrhythmic music of the West African Harp, the Kora, onto the classical guitar. Egberto Gismonti, Bach and Keith Jarrett are all elements of his musical DNA. We hang with Derek and he treats us to some live performances and stories of how he happened upon discovering this new world of music for the guitar. Derek Gripper was in NYC performing as part of the ongoing World in Trance Festival which continues April 11th and...
In this incredible episode we capture Innov Gnawa performing the "Sebatayin" repetoire, Gnawa music performed traditionally in Morrocco for the Jewish Community. They performed this for the end of Passover at Greenwich House Music School as part of the UNCHARTED concert series. The Jewish presence in Morocco dates back to over 2,500 years ago and upon interaction with the gnawa community, a bond formed over appreciation for gnawa music and its healing powers. Gnawa music pre-dates Islam and orig...
The mindblowing Zlatne Ustne Goldenfest is returning this May 10-11, 2024 in a new home Astoria Queens! Here's a classic episode recorded during the 2019 festivalDuring the epic annual Zlatne Ustne Goldenfest , the crowd was worked into a frenzy by a rollicking set by LITVAKUS, Zisl Slepovich's klezmer band. We get a chance to hang backstage with the maestro and renaissance man, Zisl Slepovich. Zisl Slepovitch ( Dmitri Zisl Slepovitch ) is an internationally renowned multiinstrumentalist (clarin...
In anticipation of the Ragas Live Festival 2023 coming October 14-15 to Pioneer Works, we will be broadcasting this amazing set from 2022 featuring Kane Mathis on Kora and Roshni Samlal on Tabla. Kane Mathis, a man of many talents, also mixed and mastered this and all the recordings from Ragas Live Festival 2022. The radio broadcast will be at WKCR 89.9 FM-NY ( www.wkcr.org ) at 7PM on August 6, or you can enjoy here on the NYC Radio Live Podcast. Tix and info for Ragas Live Festival are availab...
