A great discussion with Knoel Scott, a multi instrumentalist and band leader who has played with with the Sun Ra Arkestra since 1979.  Recorded backstage at the Opus 1 Festival in Maryland.  We also hear his original composition, "Harlem Nocturne," featuring Marshall Allen.   Knoel will be back in town for this exciting show at the Town Hall on March 4th 2020 SUN RA ARKESTRA AND WILLIAM PARKER'S INSIDE SONGS OF CURTIS MAYFIELD      

Eric Thompson took up the guitar as a teenager in Palo Alto, California in the early 1960's, at a time when very few folk guitarists were playing more than basic rhythm guitar. Among his earliest bands were the Black Mountain Boys (with Jerry Garcia and David Nelson) and Mother McCree's Uptown Jug Champions. He quickly became nationally known as an exceptional lead flatpicker, winning the World Championship Cup at Union Grove, North Carolina with the New York Ramblers (which also included David Grisman and Winnie Winston) and flying to Nashville, Tennessee to record "Beatle Country" with the Charles River Valley Boys (reissued on Rounder). During the 1970's, Eric continued to play old-time music. He also took up the tenor banjo, organized the Graineog Celidh Band around two master musicians from County Clare, Joe Cooley and Kevin Keegan, and spent six months in the west of Ireland, visiting and learning from older traditional musicians there.   Eric will be playing a private concert with Andy Statman on Sunday December 15th at 2pm in Brooklyn (Near Prospect Park)  Email [email protected] for info and reservations.

Michael Leonhart Orchestra (MLO) is a genre-crossing 15-piece ensemble that has been putting on electrifying shows for the last 2 years. The Orchestra performs both Leonhart’s original compositions as well as his arrangements of Wutang, Fela, Ellington, Zappa and Bernard Herrmann. MLO features players from bands such as Sharon Jones & the Dap-kings, the Mingus Big Band, Maria Schneider’s Orchestra, the Tonight Show Band (Roots) and other soloists from the NY/Brooklyn jazz/soul/studio scene. The MLO residence at at the Jazz Standard has a very special show coming up this Tuesday, December 10th... a live recording which will be broadcast on New Years Eve on NPR/WBGO.   Tickets and Info are here  Grammy winning Michael Leonhart is sought throughout the music and entertainment world as a trumpeter, composer, producer, arranger, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter. He has collaborated with artists as diverse as James Brown & Wutang Clan to Meryl Streep & Isaac Mizrahi. As a trumpeter, Michael performed on Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars’  record breaking smash hit “Uptown Funk,” which won the 2016 Record of the year Grammy. He has performed with rock legends Steely Dan since 1996, recording two albums with them, including 2000's 4x Grammy winning Album of the Year "Two Against Nature.” Michael has composed music for stage and screen, including writing a song for and directing Meryl Streep on the Decca soundtrack album “Songs of Lahore.” Leonhart recently composed music for the score to Rockstar Games upcoming “Red Dead Redemption 2.” Michael’s eighth solo album, the genre-crossing “Painted Lady Suite,” by the Michael Leonhart Orchestra (MLO), will be released June 15th on Sunnyside Records. The orchestra performs both Leonhart’s original compositions as well as his arrangements of Wu Tang, Ellington and more, featuring players from bands such as Sharon Jones & the Dap-kings, the Mingus Big Band and The Roots.  

On the heels of their highly successful event featuring Brooklyn Raga Massive, Alexandre Tannous and NYC Radio Live return to The Assemblage to continue their exploration of the power of sound, meditation and trance and with the Grammy nominated group Innov Gnawa this Thursday. Details for the event are here Alexandre Tannous, a composer, musician, ethnomusicologist and researcher came to WKCR to speak about Gnawa music and trance to get us ready for the event.     Alexandre Tannous has performed a variety of musical styles including classical, jazz, rock, and non-Western music on various instruments. His ethnomusicological research investigates issues of acculturation, community, musical identity in an urban setting, and the concepts of talent, charisma, and leadership in music. For the past 13 years he has been researching the therapeutic and esoteric properties of sound from three different perspectives – Western scientific, Eastern philosophical, and shamanic societal beliefs – to gain a deeper understanding of how, and to what extent, sound has been used to affect human consciousness. This search has led him to where art, science, philosophy, and spirituality intersect. Inspired by his findings, he designed a protocol of an integrated experience he calls “Sound Meditation” in which he shares the findings from his research, raising an awareness to how a specifically designed sound can have the ability to help us to disconnect from habitual patterns while judiciously listening to the specific traditional instruments he plays. 

The great young carnatic Roopa Mahadevan, comes to WKCR to share a sneak preview of her upcoming album, Roopa in 6 Yards. As spontaneous and joyful as the singer herself, the album is refreshing and uncompromising exploration of a wide range of compositions from the Carnatic cannon.  With this recording Roopa is bound to expand the audience for this traditional music. 

While we begin to sift through the gold mine of multi-track recordings from 24 hour Ragas Live 2019.  We have one set that we happened to mix live on stage and are able to deliver right now. Unstruck Sound are an ambient group that explore the concept of the drone.  Set and Setting are 4am (about 9 hours into the fest.) Neel Murgai is Overtone vocals, Eric Fraser is on bansuri, Aaron Shregge is on Shakuhachi and Dragon Mouth Trumpet and David Ellenbogen is on lap steel guitar and electronics. 23 more hours are on their way!      

A great discussion, originally broadcast live on WKCR, with Soles of Duende, Amanda Castro, Arielle Rosales and Brindha Guha.   They'll be preforming with Frank Malloy IV & Roshni Samlal at the Ragas Live Festival at 11pm.     Birthed in East Harlem, the women of Soles arrived with a single, transparent question: how do they find truth, connection, and storytelling through the rhythms of their respective cultures? Based in the rhythms of Tap (Amanda Castro), Flamenco (Arielle Rosales) and Kathak (Brinda Guha), their mission created the fire that is Soles of Duende. They devote their work together to yield nothing but joy and music, and to bring clarity to how they connect given their beautiful differences. 

A chat with Lucibela the great singer from Capo Verde who is bringing her countries music to the US right now with a 14 state tour.   

We have a chat with Alexandre Tannous, a leading sound researcher, sound therapist and ethnomusicologist.  On 9/18/19 Alexandre will lead an experiential exploration of the effects of this unique system of sound, consciousness, and spirituality with key members Brooklyn Raga Massive. To deepen the experience we sat had a wide ranging discussion about the effects of sound.  Alexandre Tannous has been active as a musician, educator, composer, and as an ethnomusicologist. He holds a Bachelor of Music with a double major in Music Theory and Composition, and a Master of Arts degree in Music Education from Columbia University Teachers College. As a recipient of the Mellon Fellowship he also earned a Master of Arts and a Master of Philosophy degrees in Ethnomusicology from Columbia University where he was enrolled in the Ph.D. program. He has taught various music courses at the same institution. The works of Alexandre Tannous are frequently performed in the United States, Europe, and in Asia. The World Première performance of his orchestral composition “Métamorphose” under his baton at Carnegie Hall in 1995 received a standing ovation. As a film composer he composed two film-scores: The Seventh Dog (2005), and Jim (2009) www.jimthefilm.com.   As a musician, he has performed a variety of musical styles including classical, jazz, rock, and non-Western music on various instruments. Alexandre is also active as an ethnomusicologist. He has conducted fieldwork for 17 years in over 40 countries around the world. His ethnomusicological research investigates issues of acculturation, community, musical identity in an urban setting, and the concepts of talent, charisma, and leadership in music. He is a sought-after ethnomusicologist/composer consultant on projects in recording studios helping creating awareness in amalgamating various musical cultures.   For the past 17 years he has been researching the therapeutic and esoteric properties of sound from three different perspectives – Western scientific, Eastern philosophical, and shamanic societal beliefs – to gain a deeper understanding of how, and to what extent, sound has been used to affect human consciousness. This search has led him to the intersection where art, science, philosophy, and spirituality intersect. His ethnomusicological approach entails a social scientific study of sound use in several traditional contexts—religious, spiritual, holistic, and cultural—for various purposes and occasions in entertainment, worship, meditation, and rituals of healing and trance. Consequently, his approach in researching, understanding, experiencing, transmitting, and working with sound has always been based on a multidisciplinary approach.   The material he transmits about sound is based on thorough research over many years: observations he made during his fieldwork, scientific studies, personal experiences, and data collected from thousands of people he has worked with doing sound therapy. This has led him to a deeper understanding of how sound reveals and unlocks hidden powers we have within us to promote profound inner changes and healing.   Inspired by his findings, he designed a protocol of an integrated experience he calls “Sound Meditation” in which he shares the findings from his research, raising an awareness to how a specifically designed sound can have the ability to help us to disconnect from habitual patterns while judiciously listening to the specific traditional instruments he plays. He employs a phenomenological approach to study the effects of sound, using a method that empowers the participants to engage actively with tools that enhance their experience, using the consciousness-altering properties of sound to heighten self-awareness, to connect to the higher self, to fine-tune self-observation, and to attain self-realization.   Alexandre is a frequent guest-lecturer in major institutions such as Georgetown University, Princeton University, Columbia University, NYU, and in museums such as the American Museum of Natural History, the Metropolitan Museum of New York, the Brooklyn Museum, the Rubin Museum, and the Museum of the City of New York.   He continues to do research on sound, currently works as a sound therapist, teaches this practice, and lectures about sound. On 9/18,  Beginning with a presentation and a discussion which give context to this music, Alexandre will lead a sound meditation that will incorporate musical experiences from Neel Murgai (overtone loops), Arun Ramamurthy (Carnatic Violin), David Ellenbogen (guitar), Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury (sitar) and Ehren Hanson (tabla). Participants should bring eyemasks for a fully immersive experience. Brooklyn Raga Massive is a prolific artist collective who have gained accolades for “Expanding the notion of what raga—the immersive, epic form of Indian music—can mean…” (Wall St. Journal) and “Preserving the past while blurring genres in an inventive spirit,” (New York Times). All proceeds from the event will go to the Raga Massive 501-C3 non-profit to help produce the most ambitious event of the year: The epic 24 Hour/ 24 Set, Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works.

A midnight set from the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival 2018 Samarth Nagarkar (vocal) Rohan Prabhudesai (harmonium) Sandip Ghosh (tabla)

As we ramp up towards Ragas Live Festival 2019, we are sharing all 24 sets of last years incredible festival.  3AM-4AM was a special moment for us all.   Ross Hammond (guitar), Pawan Benjamin (sax/bansuri), Sameer Gupta (drums)   Special Guests Renald St. Juste (percussion), Morgan Zwerlein (percussion) join in for the last jams.     Sacramento guitarist Ross Hammond has played on large stages and in small corners throughout the United States and beyond. His sound is equal parts jazz, folk, blues, spirituals and world music.  He has played for Hillary Clinton, to audiences of five and all points in between.  Ross has collaborated/gigged/recorded with: Kevin Seconds, Oliver Lake, Pheeroan AkLaff, Vinny Golia, Vladimir Tarasov, Tetuzi Akiyama, Nicole Mitchell, Lizz Wright, Dwight Trible, Calvin Weston, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Alex Cine, Suzuki Junzo, Amy Reed, Nels Cline, Jeff Parker, Max Johnson, Steve Adams, Ken Filiano, Mike Pride, Catherine Sikora, Scott Amendola, Steuart Liebig, Sameer Gupta, Tony Passarell and more.      

A 9-10 am performance from Rajeswari Satish (vocal);Radhika Mani (violin) and Bala Skandan (mridangam) from the Ragas Live Festival 2018 at Pioneer Works.   Ragas Live Festival 2019 will take place at Pioneer Works October 19th and 20th. 

For Chico Freeman, Jazz is the family business.  His father played with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald and his grandfather was an associate of Louis Armstrong. Chico has had an amazing career playing with the likes of Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, Sun Ra, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Celia Cruz, Charles Mingus, Tito Puente, to name a few.  We got to hang with the great musician, composer and producer and get the inside story on working with so many of these icons of music. Chico also shares selections from some recent albums including  The Essence of Silence, All In The Family, Spoken Into Existence, and Elvin: Tribute to Elvin Jones. 

As Martha Redbone and Brooklyn Raga Massive prepare to take the stage at Yerba Buena Gardens in San Fransisco this week, we share highlights from our first conversation with Martha and hear her first performance with BRM at the Outside (In)dia Series. This is burning set with Martha Redbone – Vocals Aaron Whitby – Keys, Piano Marvin Sewell – Guitar Charlie Burnham – Violin Tony Mason – Drums Fred Cash – Bass Sameer Gupta – Tabla Pawan Benjamin – Bansuri Neel Murgai – Sitar Special Guests: Soni Moreno – Vocals Michael Gam – Sarod, Percussion Part Cherokee, Choctaw, European and African American, Martha Redbone is a pioneering voice of Appalachian and Native American song. Redbone’s music flows equally from her own unique, award-winning blend of Native American elements with funk and her deep roots in Appalachian folk and Piedmont blues favored by the matriarchy that raised her on a rich sojourn from Clinch Mountain, Virginia to Harlan County, Kentucky and beyond to Brooklyn’s Dodge City-esque mean streets. In this debut collaboration, Redbone was joined by Brooklyn Raga Massive’s community of Indian music-inspired artists for an exploration of Americana and raga intersections.    

We hang out with Shoko Nagai and Satoshi Takeshi and hear tracks from her amazing TOKALA project...    Shoko Nagai is a versatile musical artist who improvises and performs with world-renowned musicians on piano and accordion and composes original scores for films and live performances. As a teenager in her native Japan, Nagai was trained on Yamaha's electronic organ, the "Electone," to perform popular music. Since moving to the U.S. from Japan and studying classical and jazz music at Berklee, she has adapted her mastery of the keyboard to prepared piano, accordions, the melodica and other instruments, often inspired by the minimalist approach of composer Takemitsu Toru. Whether she is performing Klezmer, Balkan or experimental music, Nagai is a charismatic presence onstage, who hypnotizes audiences with her intense focus and virtuoso sound. Since moving to New York in 1999 she has been dubbed an "MVP" of the downtown jazz scene, performing with John Zorn, Erik Friedlander, Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, Frank London, Matana Roberts, Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), Satoshi Takeishi, Butch Morris, Elliot Sharp, Jeremiah Lockwood and many eclectic performers. Nagai frequently tours internationally, performing in Sweden (2009 Nobel Prize ceremony for German writer, Herta Muller), Italy (Napoli Teatro Festival 2015), Austria (Saalffelden Jazz Festival 2014), France (Banlieues Bleues 2012), Switzerland (Rote Fabrik 2012), Holland (Bimhuis 2012),  Japan (Fuji Rock Festival 2012), Israel (Romanian Institute 2011), Canada (Suoni Popolo Festival 2008), Germany (Moers Jazz festival 2007), and Brazil (resfest 2007) and in the U.S. (Newport Jazz Festival 2015, Saratoga Jazz Festival 2008). She has received grants from JazzJants (Painted Bride Arts Center) in 2008 and the New York Foundation for the Arts in 2010. Nagai's compositions for films include, L'amour Cache (2007), directed by Alessandro Capone and conducted by Butch Morris, as well as a trio of films directed by Linda Hoaglund: ANPO: Art X War (2010 Toronto, DOC NYC, Vancouver, and Hong Kong film festivals), Things Left Behind, (2012) produced by Japan's national broadcaster, NHK, and The Wound and The Gift, narrated by Vanessa Redgrave (Vancouver, DOC NYC, Tokyo FilmX 2014). CARE (2016 DOC NYC, AFI DOCS, Sheffield Doc Fest, Reelworld Impact Award) directed by Diredre Fishel   “Connection beyond genre and contrasting elements, in quest for the essence” is what Japanese-born musician/improviser Satoshi Takeishi strives for in his performances, whether behind a drum set, a hybrid percussion set or computer-based electronics.  With over 30 years’ experience in live performances and recording sessions around the world, executing in styles of Jazz, Rock, Contemporary Classical, Avant Garde, Experimental Electronic, Latin, South American, Arabic and African music, Takeishi moves among diverse musical environments. Rather than a specialist of any one style, Takeishi constantly strives for an integration of his diverse musical experience and knowledge. 

Today we share the first of 24 sets recorded at the Ragas Live Festival 2018 Partha Bose (sitar) and Aditya Narayan Banerjee (tabla) played a late morning raga at 10am, recorded and broadcast from Pioneer Works in Red Hook, Brooklyn.   The Ragas Live Festival will return to Pioneer Works October 19-20th 2019! Born on January 21,1962, Partha was initiated to the Sitar at the age of six and thereafter underwent intensive training in the tradition of Guru-Shishya parampara under the tutelage of Pandit Monoj Shankar of the famous Maihar Gharana.  Partha has received overwhelming appreciation from  connoisseurs and critics of Hindustani classical music  in India and abroad over two decades now.  He has been a distinguished performer on radio and television and was invited by the Government of India to lead a cultural delegation to African countries on the historic occasion of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of India's Independence. His concert tours to the USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, Middle East & Bangladesh have featured him in major international festivals as well as reputed universities : in performances, workshops, lecture-demonstrations and teaching sessions.

5 years after our first conversation, we reconnect with Paul Winter.   Seven-time Grammy® winner Paul Winter has a body of work that chronicles his wide-ranging experiences in the musical traditions and natural environments of the Earth.  The saxophonist, composer and bandleader founded Living Music as the recording context for his ensemble, the Paul Winter Consort, and his community of colleagues, which includes some of the world’s finest jazz, world, and classical musicians, along with notable voices from the great symphony of wildlife.  His 24 Annual Summer Solstice celebration is coming up on June 22nd.    

This is a fascinating conversation with Dennis McNally, who tells the inside story of the Grateful Dead as revealed to him during a dozen years on the road with the band, by the members themselves, and from a mountain of research.  Ben Ratliff writes in the New York Times, that Dennis "had more access to his subjects and their trails of paper, recording tape and roach clips than almost all previous rock biographers." With cameos from the Hell's Angels, the CIA, the Beat Poets, the Grateful Dead's adventures encapsulates the story of counter-culture America itself... and depending on your perspective, serves as a cautionary tale.   Dennis is also the author of Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, The Beat Generation & America and Highway 61: Music, Race and the Evolution of Cultural Freedom.     

Celebrating the release of his new album, Monroe Bus, we get to hang out with Andy Staman!  Andy Statman is one of his generation's premier mandolinists and clarinetists, and has made major contributions to both Jewish music and bluegrass.  He describes his compositions and performances as "spontaneous  American-roots music and personal, prayerful hasidic music, by way of avant-garde jazz."

We get to hang out with Ilusha and listen to selections from his new album, Yes & No.   Singer and guitarist Ilusha Tsinadze was born in Soviet-era Georgia and emigrated to the U.S. at the age of 8. Yes & No is a musical conversation between the contemporary sounds of Brooklyn and the traditional music his family left behind in Georgia. Ilusha has become recognized for his distinct interpretations of Georgia folk music following his first album, Deda Ena (Mother Tongue), the wildly successful single, Mokhevis Kalo Tinao, and tours across the U.S., including a 2018 performance at Carnegie Hall. With a background in jazz and many years spent playing in the NYC music scene, he has found his own voice in the rich musical traditions of his ancestors. In making his latest album, Ilusha collaborated with Grammy award-winning arranger and producer Kyle Sanna, in Brooklyn, NY. He also traveled to Georgia with a laptop and mics in hand, adding artists that have inspired him over the years. His American musical collaborators are considered some of best world and jazz musicians in New York City, including Peter Hess (clarinet, Slavic Soul Party), Chris Tordini (bass, Tyshawn Sorey) and Vitor Gonçalves (accordion, Anat Cohen).

While out in Bombay, we visit the author Namita Devidayal, whose compelling new biography, The Sixth String of Vilayat Khan shines new light on the maestro's genius.  Namita, author of The Music Room, speaks about this poetic new work and reflects on both dark and light sides of her subject.  

We hang out with one of the greatest drummers of his generation, Eric Harland!  We chat about what he's learned form the  many great musicians he's played with, philosophy, meditation, his own journey and generally get into it. Eric will be coming to town with Zakir Hussain and the Masters of Percussion April 24 at the Town Hall...  

This is an exclusive interview with the greatest living master of the bansuri, Hariprasad Chaurasia.  David Ellenbogen and Chaurasia's Senior disciple Jay Gandhi join the maestro at his Vrindaban Gurukul, in Mumbai. 

n a stunning display of North and West African fusion, El Foukr R’Assembly, a group traveling all the way from Algeria performs live on WKCR.  The musicians from Algeria, Burkina Faso and Ghana come together for two explosive sets of music A taxi-driver & a farmer, a graphic designer, a sound engineer and an art-major student, Oualid Khelifi as the producer and filmmaker had met them lin 2014 at various parts of Algeria before suggesting a long term project around docfilm and experimental AfroFusion music linking the Maghreb with the rest of Africa. So far, the project has recorded, documented or produced 18 African musicians from Algeria, Niger, Ghana and Burkina Faso. Todays show features Amine Lehchili, Abdelhak BenMedjbari Justice Nii Adjiri aka Shikome Adama Diarra Labib Benslama Younes Kati Nazim Bakour

This was one of my favorite early episodes.  Cosmas Magya is a master of the Mbira ( a type of thumb piano) from the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe.  Here he performs and explains the way the instrument is used in ceremonies to contact ancestors.  We’ll also hear a track he recorded with another powerful Mbira player and vocalist Beauler Dyoko. (Rebroadcast from 2011)

Hailing from Venezuela, Betsayda Machado & Parranda El Clavo made their New York debut at GlobalFest  last year. The group’s electrifying live set, complete with pitch perfect harmonies, dazzling dancers, and irresistible rhythms earned them legions of new fans and a feature in the next days’s New York Times. We sat down with Betsayda with her manager Juan Souki and learned more about the Afro-Venezuelan tradition. She talks us through a few tracks on their first album,  Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree, which is available through the Indiegogo campaign that brought them here. Betsayda Machado and Parranda EL Clavo

Before their premier of an exciting new work Nature/War/Love we hang out with Karou Wantanabe, Parul Shah and Sameer Gupta.  We also check out slections from Karou Wantanabe's latest album Néo. In Nature/War/Love Shinobue flute and taiko drum virtuoso Kaoru Watanabe, known for his work on Wes Anderson’s Isle of Dogs and Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, and hybrid Indian classical tabla and modern jazz percussionist Sameer Gupta (Coltrane Raga Tribute, Adam Rudolph) team up with Indian classical and contemporary choreographer Parul Shah,whose work is expanding the classical medium beyond cultural boundaries.  Through the lens of lush contemporary compositions and dynamic improvisations, the thematic material found in traditional works such as Ghalib, Mahabharata, Amaterasu, and the Tale of Genji provides a framework for these three brilliant artists to explore the connections between these ancient texts and today’s world.

Debashish Bhattacharya is simply one of the greatest guitarists walking the earth.  The slide guitar master will be performing at GlobalFest this year, and we give a preview of what to expect, revisiting a  Hurricane Sandy Benefit Concert Debashish performed in NYC in 2012 with his daughter Anandi and brother Subashish. 

Seven-time Grammy® winner Paul Winter has a body of work that chronicles his wide-ranging experiences in the musical traditions and natural environments of the Earth.  The saxophonist, composer and bandleader founded Living Music as the recording context for his ensemble, the Paul Winter Consort, and his community of colleagues, which includes some of the world’s finest jazz, world, and classical musicians, along with notable voices from the great symphony of wildlife. It was a blast when he came by my apartment,  played some instruments,  hung out and talked about the big event coming up:  His 35th Annual Winter Solstice Celebration. The Cathedral at St. John the Divine during the spectacle of Paul WInter’s Solstice Celebration

Here's our first recording from Ragas Live Festival 2018! A beautiful set from 11pm to midnight from Anirban Dasgupta (sarod), Mir Naqibul Islam (tabla).   Anirban is the youngest son and disciple of Pt. Buddhadev Dasgupta. Needless to mention, he grew up with the very best ambience of Indian Classical music, with his older sibling, Bhavani Shankar also following his father’s footsteps. Not to be left behind, Anirban also took to playing the Sarod from an early age under the able guidance and tutelage of his illustrious father. A wonderful product of innate talent, years of grueling toil and delicate musical nurture, Anirban remains an extremely humble and self-effacing artist. In 1987, he stood first in the All India Radio Music Competition. He has performed widely in India as well as in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and USA.   Mir Naqibul Islam (tabla) is a classical music performer in Bangladesh and New York, both as a soloist and an accompanist. Though trained in a purely traditional style, he incorporates many genres and influences into his playing. He is fortunate to have Shri Ashoke Paul, a disciple of Padmabhushan Pandit Jnan Prakash ghosh, as his guru for the past 17 years, learning the technical and aesthetic aspects of tabla playing. Mir has also learned from Janab Syed Hafizur Rahman, Shri Madan Gopal Das, and Pandit Suresh Talwalkar. Mir is currently taking musical instruction from Pandit Anindo Chatterjee.

We hang with the great Turkish musician Ozan Aksoy. He performs live on Ney and Saz and we  check out tracks from his new album entitled, Ozan.   The New York City based musician Ozan Aksoy’s destiny was set with his birth name - Ozan - an ancient title for mystical bards in West Asia. As a child growing up in Turkey, he first learned to play the saz (lute) from his father, and soon demonstrated remarkable breadth as a multi-instrumentalist, becoming proficient in many of the string, woodwind, and percussive instruments of the region. He developed a passion for the music of ethnic and religious minorities in his country including the Kurds, Armenians, Laz, and Alevi, among others. Later in college, as an early member of the critically-acclaimed ensemble Kardeş Türküler (meaning Ballads of Solidarity), Ozan and his colleagues performed the songs of these unrecognized and suppressed peoples, pushing the boundaries of inclusion in Turkey. During his time with the group they released four albums and toured extensively throughout Europe, spreading their message of diversity and acceptance. Ozan then relocated to the United States to complete a doctorate in ethnomusicology and further develop his multicultural repertoire.

A freewheeling interview with Zakir Hussain, widely hailed as one of the global percussionists of our time. This interview, conducted by WKCR's David Ellenbogen, is in anticipation of Zakir's upcoming performance at The Town Hall with Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Rakesh Chaurasia on November 15th.   Zakir Hussain, who first made a name for himself accompanying legends such as Ustad Ali Akbar Khan,  avi Shankar, Ustad Vilayat Khan, Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, and countless others has grown to become a global figure. Prominent in world music projects, he has collaborated with artists as diverse as George Harrison, Yo-Yo Ma, Giovanni Hidalgo, Jan Garbarek, Van Morrison, John McLaughlin, and Mickey Hart.   

One of the world’s foremost tabla players, Subhasis Bhattacharya has performed and recorded with his brother Debashish on many classic albums including the Grammy nominated Calcutta Chronicles. On Tablananda, his first international collaboration, Subhasis assembles an incredible line-up of musicians to produce a visionary album that showcases his incredible creativity.

We hang out with the great dancer and innovator Misa Kelly who is in town for the Collaborations in Dance Festival at Triskelion Arts.    Misa is passionate about community building. Her innovative program designs and organizational efforts have helped over 1,000 artists over the past 20 years. Kelly is a groundbreaker and innovator. As SonneBlauma Danscz Theatre her company was the first in her community to tour CA, tour to New York, tour internationally, the first to provide opportunity to non-local boutique artists, and the first to co-launch a dance festival in her community as a gesture of giving back. She became the first member of the dance community to receive a coveted indy Award. In 2012 SonneBlauma morphed into ArtBark and Kelly shared leadership and direction with Stephen Kelly, Mojca Majcen, and Trina Mannino. As a community they toured to France, Austria, Slovenia, SoCal, New York, and Connecticut. Their project Alma.Sama., three years in the making, was met with critical acclaim with a premiere at the Slovenian National Cultural Center – the Cankarjev Dom. Her choreography in this collaborative work was described as “perfect dance poetics with superior movement vocabulary” by the Slovenian publication Parada Plesa. Misa has exhibited her visual art in New York, Vienna, and Santa Barbara, and guerilla style at the Lourve, the Norton Simon, and the Belvedere. She publishes as an indie author under the pen name of Ginger Freedom and blogs regularly about dance on her Facebook page and on a sundry of topics at playfreshional.wordpress.com. This event, for her, celebrates 20 years of dance making. THE DANCER: mdkellydances.com THE VISUAL ARTIST:  http://artbarkinternation.wixsite.com/brutifuloutsiderart PRODUCT SALES:  thehunkyteacup.com

In this podcast we pay tribute to the great musician and educator Madeleine Yayodele Nelson. Joining us in the studio were her friends and bandmates Caren Calder and  Marsha Perry-Starks as well as Olumide, Dana Hanchard, Giancarlo Luiggi and Babatunde Don Eaton.  Madeleine was , a composer, arranger, vocalist, percussionist, teacher, and instrument maker as well as the founder and artistic director of WOMEN OF THE CALABASH. A celebrated percussionist, Ms Nelson performed in many parts of the world and has composed and performed music for Off Broadway Theater. An instrument maker, she handcrafted the shekeres for the New York and London companies of  the Broadway show FELA. She recorded with Paul Simon, Billy Harper, the Jambalaya Brass Band, WOMEN OF THE CALABASH, and many others. Ms Nelson presented master classes in shekere playing throughout the U.S., in London, and in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.  She lectured at the Julliard School and taught master classes at the Manhattan School of Music.  Ms Nelson was Founder and director of WOMEN OF THE CALABASH, an internationally acclaimed vocal and percussion ensemble. Founded in 1978, the company performed extensively in the U.S. as well as in the British Isles, Europe, West Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. Ms Nelson's film credits include Marlon Riggs'  Black Is Black Ain't  and The American Bible Society's  The Visit. She has performed for four Presidents, including President Barack Obama.  She was a dedicated teaching artist with a legacy of thousands of students.

Deepal Chodhari (santoor), Shiva Ghoshal (tabla) play a 5am set at Ragas Live Festival 2016 at Pioneer Works.

Here we revist a 2011 interview with the master percussionist and luminary Adam Rudolph.  Adam wil be bringing his Go:Organic Orchestra to collaborate with the Brooklyn Raga Massive this Friday July 27th 2017. http://rma.cm/2nq  He'll be live with David Ellenbogen on WKCR 89.9 FM-NY this Tuesday from 12pm-3pm. www.wkcr.org  

We hang out with the great trumpet and shakuhachi player Aaron Shragge.  We'll hear some tracks from his new album with the legendary guitarist Ben Monder: This World of Dew.    

The Book of J, Jeremiah Lockwood and Jewlia Eisenberg, stopped by the apartment for a beautiful  acoustic set. They perform music from all over the world to and our celebrating their new album and their month long residency at Barbes.     Jewlia Eisenberg works at the intersection of voice, text and diaspora consciousness, primarily as the leader of the ensemble Charming Hostess. Her music is mostly released on the Tzadik label Radical Jewish Culture imprint. Recordings include Sarajevo Blues on Bosnian resistance poetry and Trilectic on the political-erotic world of Walter Benjamin. She often works in immersive installation, making hybrid spaces that incorporate music performance, visitor participation, and experimental ritual. Installations include Teraphim (Meridian Gallery) on household gods; and The Bowls Project (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts) on Babylonian women’s amulets. Jewlia’s work has been curated into the Contemporary Jewish Museum in SF and the Museum of Peace in Uzbekistan; she performs regularly in Europe and the Americas. She has been a visiting artist at CalArts, MIT, and the University of Colorado, where she has taught on the boundary lands holding music and critical theory. Her interests include class war and knitting. Brooklyn born and bred, she now calls Oakland home. For more: www.charminghostess.com. Jeremiah Lockwood’s music career began with over a decade of apprenticeship to the legendary Piedmont Blues musician Carolina Slim, playing in the subways of New York City. He also trained under his grandfather Cantor Jacob Konigsberg and performed in his choir. Jeremiah’s band The Sway Machinery seeks inspiration from diverse realms of experience related to the cultural geography of New York City. The Sway Machinery has played around the world, including stints at legendary music festivals like Montreal Jazz, Roskilde, and perhaps most notably, Festival au Desert in Timbuktu, Mali. In addition to leading The Sway Machinery, Jeremiah toured for years as guitarist in the popular world-beat band Balkan Beat Box and has scored numerous film and video projects. Jeremiah was a recipient of the 2007-8 Six Points Fellowship for Emerging Jewish Artists, was 2010 Artist-in-Residence for the Forward and was a 2011 Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra Composer Fellow. Jeremiah is currently working on a PhD in Education and Jewish Studies at Stanford University. His recent recordings include a solo album, entitled LOCKWOOD, a new record from The Sway Machinery entitled Purity and Danger and, most recently a collaboration with the Brooklyn-based independent community Because Jewish, entitled Kol Nidre. For more www.swaymachinery.com.

Recorded last just last night in the Mercy Home chapel we feature a live tabla solo performance and interview with Pt. Nayan Ghosh.  This was produced by Brooklyn Raga Massive and the maestro was joined by Ishaan Ghosh (tabla) and Rohan Prabhudesai (Harmonium).   Jump to the 1hr16 mark to hear our great conversation.      

Mauritania’s greatest singer, Noura Mint Seymali and her husband/guitarist, Jeiche Ould Chighaly performed live in studio with two members of the Brooklyn Raga Massive,  Jay Gandhi (bansuri flute) and Ehren Hanson (Tabla).  They met at the ASAMAAN Festival of Music & Astronomy in the Gorée Island – Dakar, Sénégal on April 2013 but had never performed together until this day. We're rebroadcasting this episode as Noura Mint Seymali is doing a free concert at the Lincoln Center Atrium tonight! http://www.lincolncenter.org/show/noura-mint-seymali   Noura Mint Seymali is a nationally beloved star and one of Mauritania’s foremost musical emissaries.  Born into a prominent line of Moorish griot, Noura began her career at age 13 as a supporting vocalist with her step-mother, the legendary Dimi Mint Abba.  Trained in instrumental technique by her grandmother, Mounina, Noura mastered the ardine, a 9-string harp reserved only for women.  Seymali Ould Ahmed Vall, Noura’s father and namesake, sparked her compositional instincts, himself a seminal scholar figure in Mauritanian music; studying Arab classical music in Iraq, devising the first system for Moorish melodic notation, adapting the national anthem, and composing many works popularized by his wife, Dimi.  Reared in this transitive culture where sounds from across the Sahara, the Magreb, and West Africa coalesce, Noura Mint Seymali currently drives the legacy forward as one of Mauritania’s most adventurous young artists. Fueled by the exploratory sound of her husband Jeiche Ould Chighaly’s emotive psych guitar lines, Noura and Jeiche formed their first “fusion” band in 2004.  Jeiche, a master of the tidinit (aka. ngoni, xalam), brings the force of yet another important line of Moorish griot to bear, translating the tidinit’s intricate phrasing to a modified electric guitar with heroic effect.  His unique sound, mirroring vocal lines and then refracting their melodies into the either, was born out of years presiding over wedding ceremonies, directing the dance often as the sole melodic instrument.  In addition to his work with Noura, Jeiche remains one of Nouakchott’s most sought after guitarists for traditional ceremonies. After two albums – Tarabe (2006) & El Howl (2010) – released locally in Mauritania and years of experimentation adapting Moorish music to various pop formations, Noura Mint Seymali’s current band is a concise return to the roots, a light formation led by the “azawan,” a word in Hassaniya that refers to the collective ensemble of traditional instruments; the ardine, tidinit, guitar.  Backed by a declarative, funk-speaking rhythm section, composed of Ousmane Touré (bass) and Matthew Tinari (drums), the band has made a formidable debut on the international stage, releasing two EPs – Azawan (2012) & Azawan II (2013) – and touring widely.  The band’s first full-length album for the international market – TZENNI –  is set for release via Gliiterbeat Records on June 20, 2014 and to be followed by an extensive North American tour. Though performances at events like globalFEST (USA), Festival-au-Desert (Mali), Hayy Festival (Egypt), Jeux de Francophonie (France) and Festival Timitar (Morocco) and collaborations with artists like Tinariwen, Bassekou Kouyaté, and Baaba Maal, the band is actively exposing Mauritanian roots music to the world.  In a rare merger of cultural authority and experimental prowess, Noura Mint Seymali applies the ancient musical traditions of the griot with a savvy aesthetic engagement in our contemporary moment, emerging as a powerful voice at nexus of a changing Africa.

We get to have a great hang with Ezra Gale of Molly Tigray! Molly Tigre marries the rhythms and melodies of African music– especially the entrancing styles from Ethiopia and Mali- with a uniquely progressive and exploratory jazz sound. Featuring the compositions of saxophonist Mitch Marcus (Donovan, Dave Dreiwitz) and bassist Ezra Gale (Super Hi-Fi, Aphrodesia), the band also features saxophonist Chris Hiatt (JaponizeElephants), drummer Joe Abba (Dave Douglas, The Ramones, Donny McCaslin) and percussionist Ibrahima Kolipe Camara (National Dance Company of Guinea, Kakande). The New York City based-quintet has been stewing since 2015, but their wide-ranging sound hasn't been captured on tape until now.

We get to hang with the great New York saxophonist Arun Luthra.  He's got a show coming up with his Konokol jazz project this Friday at Flushing Town Hall.   Arun Luthra is one of the premier saxophonists and composers on New York’s jazz scene, and is one of the small group of American jazz musicians of Indian heritage who have continued to explore to possibilities of fusing the modern post-bop sound with elements of Indian classical music, as well drawing from a wide variety of modern & classic musical influences to create a vibrant new sound & style.  He has performed the music of his Konnakol Jazz Project worldwide, including Japan, Italy, the U.K., Australia, and throughout the United States.  

We get to have a conversation with the great singer and songwriter Martha Redbone.  She'll be collaborating this Friday April 13, 2018 with Brooklyn Raga Massive,as part of the Outside (In)dia Series produced by India Center Foundation, Brooklyn Raga Massive and Lincoln Center.  

Saxophonist Aakash Mittal draws his inspiration from a plethora of sources.  We sit down and talk with him in anticiaption of Aawaz trio show March 11 at National Sawdust.  We'll also hear his live set from 2017s Ragas Live Festival at Rubin Museum of Art with Rez Abassi on Guitar and Alex Ritz on Drums.

An intimate conversation with Randy Weston at his home in Brooklyn in 2010.  The master jazz musician tells tales of his times with Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Fela Kuti and countless legends.  Among many accomplishments, Mr. Weston is responsible for bringing gnawa music to a much larger audience, so we thought we'd share this interview before we host Innov Gnawa at a concert at the Mercy Home in Brooklyn this Wednesday.  Tickets for that concert 2/28/18 are available here on the airbnb platform

In anticipation of his album release Feb 16 at Littlefield, the tabla/drumset maverick came to WKCR and shared some exclusive live tracks.      

We get to hang at home with Simon Shaheen!  He performs live on the oud and shares a few live performances.  We also had an in-depth discussion about maqam and the history of Arabic Music.