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, renowned for its hauntingly soulful timbre. Accompanied by the tabla's rhythmic pulse, Salar's innovative fusion of Afghan and Indian percussion draws out the musical parallels with Hindustani music, exploring the essence of Ragas and the profound connection between two diverse yet harmonious traditions. These master musicians have perfected their art in the traditional ustâd-shâgird apprenticeship in the wake of their families’ flight from Afghanistan following the chaos of the Soviet invasion – Salar, disciple of the legendary Ustad Zakir Hussain; and Homayoun, disciple of the revered Afghan Rubab maestro Ustad Mohammed Omar. Salar has toured extensively with NEA Jazz Master Stanley Clarke, appeared on Broadway with “The Kite Runner,” and together with Homayoun Sakhi took part in a series of recordings of the music of Afghanistan and Central Asia sponsored by Aga Khan Music Initiative for the Smithsonian Folkways label. In a time when music has been banned in Afghanistan, the music of these master musicians serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience and importance of preserving cultural heritage. www.salarnader.com www.homayounsakhi.com

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 ensembles to major orchestral commissions to works conceived specifically for the recording studio. Transcending categorization, this music represents the collision of mysterious introspection and brutal directness.

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 Rob Schwimmer, Mark has also worked with Steve Reich, Sting, Anthony Braxton, Bob Dylan, Wynton Marsalis, Meredith Monk, Stevie Wonder, Phillip Glass, Iva Bittova, Bruce Springsteen, Terry Riley, Ornette Coleman, Edie Brickell, Don Byron, Joan Baez, Hugh Masakela, Paul McCartney, Cecil Taylor, Bill Frisell, Jimmy Cliff, Charles Wourinen, the Everly Brothers, Steve Gadd, Fred Frith, Alison Krauss, David Krakauer & Klezmer Madness, Bobby McFerrin, David Byrne, James Taylor, The Roches, Aaron Neville, Bette Midler, and Marc Ribot. He has worked extensively with composer Elliot Goldenthal on music for the films The Glorias, Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Across the Universe, Titus, The Butcher Boy, The Good Thief, In Dreams and Heat. He has designed instruments for Julie Taymor’s Midsummer Nights Dream & Theater For A New Audience’s production of King Lear. He is the inventor of the WhirlyCopter, a bicycle-powered Pythagorean choir of singing tubes and the Big Boing, a 24 ft. sonic banquet table Mbira that seats 30 children playing 490 found objects, and he is a Visiting Lecturer in musical instrument design & performance practice at MIT. Mark is also a curator at MASS MoCA of the immersive Gunnar Schonbeck exhibit of musical instruments and co-founder of SoundstewArt, a company that designs immersive sound environments & community music making experiences. Since 2012, he has been the Artistic Director of Guitar Mash, leading the participatory communal Urban Campfires together with renowned artists sharing their favorite songs and life stories. Mark can be heard on Blue Note, Warner Bros., Sony, Sony Classical, Point/Polygram, Nonesuch, Label Bleu, Resonance Magnetique, Cantaloupe and CRI recordings. He lives in Brooklyn, NY & North Adams, MA, playing, singing & writing popular music, semi-popular music and unpopular music, whilst designing instruments that everyone can play.Mark Stewart! Mark has  The LOUD weekend is coming up at Mass MoCA August 1st, providing a great excuse to speak 

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://www.ragaslive.com

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 Morgan, Eric Dolphy, Gigi Gryce, Booker Little, Roy Haynes, Wayne Shorter, Red Garland, James Moody, Abbey Lincoln, Alice Coltrane, Booker Ervin, Horace Silver, Benny Golson, Cedar Walton, Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Curtis Fuller, Yusef Lateef, Pharoah Sanders, Herbie Mann, Archie Shepp, Clifford Jordan, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Fortune, Billy Harper, and David Murray.   We got this lucky chance to speak with him because the Brooklyn Raga Massive will be performing A Love Supreme with Reggie Workman on June 9th as part of their Wall to Wall: John Coltrane Event.  

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 behind anthems like “Cissy Strut” off the group’s self-titled 1969 debut — The Meters’ greatest commercial single that reached No. 4 on the R&B chart and No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100.  The Meters became the house band for Allen Toussaint’s recording label and studio in New Orleans, backing records for Dr. John, Paul McCartney, Lee Dorsey, Earl King, Robert Palmer and Patty Labelle’s No. 1 hit, “Lady Marmalade”.

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 12th in NYC.  

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 originally centered around animistic, spiritual, mystical concepts sung in sub-Saharan languages such as Bambara, Fulani and Sudani. Upon embracing Islam, gnawa songs began to incorporate Arabic language and themes around the Muslim prophets. Sebitiyin, meaning The Saturdays in Moroccan Arabic, is the collection of songs that grew out of the gatherings hosted by the Jewish community for the revered gnawa maalems whom they deeply respected. Themes of these songs still include the original elements of spirits and the natural world, and later came to incorporate shared saints from their Abrahamic traditions. Today, it is still rare to find a maalem that knows this full repertoire so we are especially lucky to have Maalem (Master) Hassan Ben Jaafer, son of the late Abdallah Ben Jaafer, lead us through a powerful moment of unity in music.   Personnel: Maalem (Master) Hassan Ben Jaafer - vocals and sintir Samir Langus - vocals and qraqeb (castanets) Amino Belyamani- vocals and qraqeb (castanets) Ahmed Jeriouda- vocals and qraqeb (castanets) Nawfal Atiq- vocals and qraqeb (castanets) Said Bourhana- vocals and qraqeb (castanets) David Lizmi - vocals and qraqeb (castanets) Uncharted is a concert series featuring New York-based artists premiering new projects or meeting with new collaborators for the first time on stage that has consistently drawn the attention of tastemakers and curators from across the city over the past three years. The Uncharted season delivers eclectic excellence in a broad selection of musical genres representing New York City’s diverse artistic community, including Mexican folkloric, ragtime, classical, electronic, jazz, ancient Moroccan devotional and contemporary R&B.  

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 (clarinetist, saxophonist, flutist, pianist, keyboardist, singer), composer, arranger, translator, and music and Yiddish educator. Slepovitch is the founder and leader of the Litvakus klezmer band, Zisl Slepovitch Trio, Assistant Music Director / Music Director / Music Coordinator in many productions by the National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene, including the Drama Desk Award nominated operetta The Golden Bride (2015/16) and Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish directed by Joel Grey. Zisl Slepovitch has taught Yiddish language and culture The New School, served as educator and artist in residence at BIMA at Brandeis University, guest artist at University of Michigan, Indiana University, and Amherst College and Vassar College, a teaching fellow and performing artist at YIVO Institute for Jewish Research (New York City), Vienna Klezmer Workshop (Vienna), The Moscow Sefer Center, and Eshkolot Project (both in Moscow). Some of Slepovitch’s theater, film, and TV contributions include consulting and acting in Defiance (Paramount), Eternal Echoes (Sony Classical), Rejoice with Itzhak Perlman and Cantor Yitzchak Meir Helfgot (PBS),  original scores for the documentary Funeral Season, children’s musical The King of Chelm, ballet Di Tsvey Brider, and many more. See Zisl Slepovitch on     Zisl Slepovitch has performed/ recorded / collaborated / worked with / wrote for Itzhak Perlman, Joshua Bell, Ron Rifkin, Joel Grey, Edward Zwick, Michael Alpert, Zalmen Mlotek, Paul Brody, Psoy Korolenko, Frank London, Lipa Schmeltzer, Yale Strom, Lev “Ljova” Zhurbin, Cantor Yaakov “Yanky” Lemmer, and many others. Slepovitch brought over from his home country Belarus a rich ethnographic collection of Belarusian Jewish music folklore collected together with Dr. Nina Stepanskaya. The collection was used in Slepovitch’s his multimedia concert program Traveling the Yiddishland. Some of Yiddish poetry by Zisl Slepovitch has been set to music and published in Israel, Russia, and the US. Over the years, Jewish music and Yiddish culture have remained the core elements of his creative inspirations. Get the music by Zisl’s LITVAKUS’ klezmer band: Bandcamp (also as CDs), iTunes, Amazon MP3, CDBaby, and more!

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 available at www.ragaslive.com You can also watch a video of this performance on YouTube here.

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 Saraswathi Ranganathan on veena and Sriram Raman on Mridangam 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 available at www.ragaslive.com You can also watch a video of this performance on YouTube here.  

We connect with Musekiwa Chingdoza from Zimbabwe for the Ragas Live Festival 

Bansuri maestro Eric Fraser with Mir Naqibol Islam on tabla at the 2021 Ragas Live Festival.    

Hamid Al-Saadi with Safaafir Hamid Al-Saadi - vocal Amir ElSaffar - santur and vocal Dena El Saffar - joza, violin, and vocal Tim Moore - percussion George Ziadeh - oud Zahra Zubaidi - vocal Zahra Ali - vocal Omar Dewachi    Subscribe to NYC Radio Live to enjoy the full festival.

An interview with Parvathy Baul, conducted by David Ellenbogen, produced with the support of SACSA. for the Ragas Live Festival Parvathy Baul is a practitioner, performer and teacher of the Baul tradition from Bengal, India. She is also an instrumentalist, storyteller and painter.   She has performed in over forty countries, including such prestigious concert halls and music festivals as the Noh Theater in Kyoto, the World Music Center in New York City, Melbourne Arts Center and the Festival of World Sacred Music in Fez, Morocco.   She has also collaborated with world’s leading theater director Eugenio Barba. ​ She visits several dance, theatre and music institutions across the globe in the capacity of a teacher.   ​ The depth of her mesmerising performance is rooted in her deep spiritual practice. It is described by critics as “riveting” and “spellbinding.”    Parvathy’s performance work emerges from a long lineage of master Baul singers, dancers, and spiritual teachers. She studied closely with two of the most respected Baul singer-gurus of the previous generation, Sri Sanatan Das Thakur Baul and Sri Shashanko Goshai.   She was recognized by her gurus as both a musical and spiritual teacher in the Baul tradition, carrying forward their spiritual legacy.  ​   Parvathy has co-founded Ekathara Kalari along with Sri Ravi Gopalan Nair, a non-profit institution promoting ancient Indian spiritual traditions, with an emphasis on Baul arts and practice.    As per her Guru Sri Sanatan Das Baul’s vision, she has established Sanatan Siddhashram, a traditional learning center for the Baul tradition in Birbhum district, West Bengal, India. ​ Recognising her unbroken commitment to the tradition, the government of India conferred upon her the most esteemed Sangeet Natak Akademi award in the year 2019. It is the highest Indian recognition given to practicing artists. She was felicitated by honorable President Sri Ramnath Kovind.

The opening set of the Ragas Live Festival 2021.  Subscribe for weekly updates with the following 24 sets...

This first live set is from Ragas Live 2020 Cape Town, South Africa Derek Gripper - Guitar Second live set is from Ragas Live 2020 Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire Dr. Toumani Diabate - kora Ahmed Diabate - kora Balla Diabate - kora

This live set is from Ragas Live 2020 Rubin Museum of Art Arun Ramamurthy - violin Jay Gandhi - bansuri Vivek Pandya - tabla Kavichelvan Srinivasaragavan - mridangam

This live set is from Ragas Live 2020 Mangily, Madagascar Monika Njava: voice, percussion Teta: guitar, voice Jean Piso: accordion, voice

This live set is from Ragas Live 2020 Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal Prince Nepali - sarangi Vibha Saran Nepali - tabla

This live set is from Ragas Live Festival 2020 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Vikku Vinayakaram  - ghatam V. Selvaganesh  - drum kit Swaminathan - Kanjira, konnokol

This live set is from Ragas Live 2020 Mysore, Karnataka, India. Mysore Nagaraj - violin Mysore Karthik - violin Tumkur Ravishankar - mridangam

This live set is from Ragas Live Festival 2020 Pioneer Works Brooklyn, NY Abhik Mukherjee - sitar Samarth Nagarkar - vocals  Dibyarka Chatterjee - tabla

Live set from Ragas Live 2020  Pioneer Works  Brooklyn, NYC, USA Roopa Mahadevan - vocal Arun Ramamurthy - violin Kavichelvan Srinivasaragavan - mridangam

Live from Rajasthan this set from Womanly Voices performed in front of Merrangahr Fort was produced with the support of Jodhpur Riff.  Live video produced for Jodhpur RIFF by Oijo Media Jodhpur RIFF presents Womanly Voices Sumitra Devi - vocals, harmonium Ganga & Sundar - vocals Mohini Devi - vocals Susheela - khartal, manjira Shyam Rao - manjira Asin Khan - sindhi sarangi, additional vocals Sadik Khan - dholak Location - Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur

This live set is from New Delhi , India  Gaurav Mazumdar -Sitar

This live set is from Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Flute Shashank- flute Akkarai Subhalakshmi - violin  Patri Satish Kumar - mridangam

This live set is form Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Charumathi Raghuram - violin Anantha R. Krishnan -mridangam

This live set is from Kamardanga, West Bengal, India Parvathy Baul  - vocals, ekthara, duggi, nupur

This live set is from San Raphael, CA, USA Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri - Teentaal Tabla Solo (excerpt) Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri -  Tabla Suhail Yusuf Khan - Sarangi   Ali Akbar College of Music Tabla Ensemble Jim Santi Owen - Tabla, Morsing, Kanjira Nilan Chaudhuri - Tabla Rohan Krishnamurthy - Mridangam William Rossel - Tabla   Producer - Jim Santi Owen Sound Engineer - Neil Godbole     Filmed, Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered at Airship Laboratories, Richmond, CA Jim Santi Owen Music - All RIghts Reserved

This live set is from San Rafael, CA, USA Alam Khan  -sarod

This live set is from El Clavo, Venezuela Betsayda Machado - lead vocals and shakers Adrian "Ote" Gomez - vocals and culoe' puya Oscar Ruiz - vocals and shakers Nereida Machado - vocals, shakers and dancing Blanca Castillo - furruco Jose Gregorio Gomez - chorus and charrasca Asterio Betancourt - quinto and culoe' puya Nelson Gomez - pujao, cumaco, paila and dancing Youse Cardozo - conga, cumaco, paila and culoe' puya

Live from San Fransisco SFJAZZ Center  This set was produced with the support of SFJAZZ Center  Zakir Hussain - tabla Rakesh Chaurasia - bansuri   Filmed at the SFJAZZ Center San Francisco, C

Live from B'nai Jeshurun NYC  This set from Andy Statman performed at B'nai Jeshurun NYC. Andy Statman  - clarinet, mandolin Jay Gandhi - bansuri David Ellenbogen - guitar Ehren Hanson -tabla  This set was produced with the support of B’nai Jeshurun   

Live from Rajasthan this set from Dhun Dhora performed in front of Merrangahr Fort was produced with the support of Jodhpur Riff.  Live video produced for Jodhpur RIFF by Oijo Media odhpur RIFF presents *Dhun Dhora* featuring the Dhol Drummers of Rajasthan Dayam Khan - harmonium, lead vocals Sardar Khan - Sindhi Sarangi, additional vocals Ghafoor Khan - khartal Chanan Khan - dhol Swaroop Khan - dhol, dholak Sattar Khan - dhol-cheep Pyaru Khan - dhol-cheep Location - Mehrangarh Fort, Jodhpur ©JodhpurRIFF 2020. All Rights Reserved Director - Divya Bhatia, Festival Director Jodhpur RIFF Video Producer - Kavi Bhansali Sound - Kavi Bhansali/ Raghav Suthaud Production Supervisor - Govind Ram Singh Production Assist - Bhawani Singh Editor -Vikash Gupta Special Thanks to the Mehrangarh Museum Trust, Jodhpur ©JodhpurRIFF 2020. All Rights Reserved [email protected]

Ragas Live Festival is returning to WKCR 89.9 FM-NY on November 21st-22nd from 7pm-7pm.   The 9th annual festival will feature many legends of music from 13 cities from Mysore to Madagascar including Terry Riley, Zakir Hussain, Toumani Diabate and Bestayda Machado.  Full lineup at www.ragaslive.org   Today we'll hear a highlight of Ragas Live Festival 2019.  Crossroads: Jay Gandhi & Yacouba Cissoko with Jay Gandhi (bansuri), Yacouba Cissoko (kora), David Ellenbogen (guitar) and Ehren Hanson (tabla).

This is the first podcast release of a set from Ragas Live Festival 2019.  The event was broadcast live on WKCR 89.9 FM-NY in front of an enthusiastic audience at Pioneer Works.   Saraswathi Ranganthan is performing the veena here and was joined by her Raghavan Sai on Mridangam.  In a spontaneous decision Swaminathan Selvganesh who had played an amazing set earlier in the evening sat in on the set. Ragas Live Festival is a 24 hour annual broadcast with over 60 musicians.  We will return in 2020 - stay tuned!     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 orchestra member of Disney’s Jungle Book production and the first Veena artiste to receive a $10,000 grant from the Logan Foundation in Chicago. She attributes her path-carving success to the inclusive energy in her music and in her life. Her goal? Bring artists and listeners together as one community united in music and understanding. – worded by Stephanie Jones, Jazzspeak.org Saraswathi constantly endeavors for sounds of the Veena to reach a cross cultural global audience. She learned Veena from her mother Shantha Ranganathan and from Karnataka Kalashree EP Alamelu in Bangalore.  She has been performing and teaching for over three decades now. Saraswathi also has the distinction as being the first Veena artiste whose original multi-lingual song “Ennai Azhaithaen – I embraced me” was commissioned by the Chicago Humanities Fest. Saraswathi is the first Veena artiste to perform live music for Chicago International Moves & Music Fest with original score for screening of the movie Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances.   

Recored and broadcast live at the Ragas Live Festival 2017 from the Rubin Museum of Art, we hear the world premier of the new project:  Recalling the Valley.  Jay Gandhi (bansuri) and Max ZT's (hammered dulcimer) pay tribute to their world-renowned teachers, Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia.  With Ehren Hanson on tabla they will perform music inspired by their gurus’ beloved album, “Call of the Valley.”   They also have a great discussion with Andrew Shantz on the topic of creating art away from its place of origin.   Ragas Live Festival supported by the Rubin Museum of Art, WKCR and Humanities New York.  

The Coltrane Raga Tribute from Brooklyn Raga Massive has blowing some minds.  As they released their album, we hang with Sameer Gupta, the tabla upstart, drummer and musical director of the project.  We'll listen to a live performance from Pioneer Works. If you want to hear it all you’ll have to get the album! . The all-star ensemble in the set we hear includes: Sameer Gupta – Drumset/Tabla, Brandee Younger – Harp, Jay Gandhi – Bansuri, Arun Ramamurthy – Violin, Pawan Benjamin – Sax, Trina Basu – Violin, Neel Murgai – Sitar, Ben Tyree – Guitar, Rashaan Carter – Bass Michael Gam – Bass Special Guests: Roopa Mahadevan – Vocal Pyeng Threadgill- vocal Anupam Shobhakar – Sarod Jessica Lurie – Sax Ken Shoji- Violin Dawoud Kringle – Dilruba Giancarlo Luigi – Chekere and Percussion Recorded by James Clark and mixed by Sameer Gupta

I just learned of the passing of the great master Randy Weston, whose tall shadow hangs over all of us who love, Gnawa Music, African Music, jazz and the intersection of three.  He was a lovely person, eager to pass along the knowledge he'd gathered through an amazing life. I hope this podcast helps pass along some of his wisdom.  He was humble, sweet and present and we're lucky to have had him on the planet for 91 years.    

We just learned of the passing of the legend McCoy Tyner, who changed the course of jazz piano.  Of course he's most well known for his work in John Coltrane's classic quartet, but he has an amazing body of work beyond that, his album Sama Layuca for a start.  Here's my 2011 interview that we conducted in the kitchen of the Blue Note.      

William Parker is a force in music and if you listen his words, he'll change your mind about what exactly the mystery of music might be. He will be performing this big double bill on March 4th: SOUNDS OF JUSTICE: SUN RA ARKESTRA AND WILLIAM PARKER'S INSIDE SONGS OF CURTIS MAYFIELDi  This is a celebration of 25 years of the Vision Festival. We had an amazing conversation until the batteries ran out on my recorder...enjoy!

We have a live performance in studio with Zhou Benming of the Zhou Family Band.  Zhou Jingzhi, founder of the Zhou Family Band, used to play in the royal court of the Qing Dynasty. After dynastic China came to an end, later generations of the family made their living by playing at local ceremonies.  The band has become so popular that sometimes people have to book them two years in advance for a ceremony. Now more than 100 members of the Zhou family and over 1000 students are active in playing at rituals in their hometown and the adjacent areas. The band plays traditional wind and percussion music that has accompanied the birth and death of people in central-eastern China for more than 600 years. Coming from Lingbi, Anhui Province, part of the Central Plain area which formed the cradle of Chinese civilization, the Zhou Family Band have been musicians for seven generations, and are bearers of a tradition that represents the cream of Chinese folk music – Bolin Laba, a national intangible cultural heritage of China.