Hatim Belyamani returns with a new version of www.remix-culture.org and shares recordings he made in Brazil and China.    

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.  

This is a remaster of a broadcast I did in 2012 when I had just returned from almost a month in Mali making field and studio recordings. Very special stuff: Here's the original intro: I'm back from the Sahara, and, as promised, have a ton of recordings to share with you.  This special show was originally broadcast on WKCR on 89.9 FM-NY and features rough mixes of studio recordings with up and coming guitarist and pop star Oumar Konate, Griot Royalty Noura Mint Seymali from Mauritania recording exclusively for us in her flat in Timbuktu, artists from Niger informally jamming in their tents and the Festival Au Desert and much, much more. We'll hear this Takamba band in the photo above- they use a car battery and a PA and the flute ends up sounding just like Jimi Hendrix...  

Hailing from Cameroon, but living now in France, singer and multi-instrumentalist,  Blick Bassy is creating a fresh, new sound with stunning vocals, banjo and luscious soundscapes from his bandmates.  His new album, Akö with his comrades Clément Petit on cello and Johan Blanc on trombone, are raising eyebrows with their totally original tribute to Skip James.    Blick sings in his native tongue,  Bassa, one of very few.  We caught up with Blick Bassy and hung backstage after an incredible show at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium.

This week we revisit a classic interview with Hugh Masekela from 2013. Hugh Masekela is the most well known jazz musician from Africa.  His first big hit was in 1968 and he has sold millions of albums, won multiple Grammys and worked with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Dizzy Gillespie. Fresh off a tour with Paul Simon, he and his band are super-refined, with perfect vocal harmonies, deep grooves, and inspired improvisations.    Masekela is considered a legend of South African Music and the apartheid struggle, but that's not how he see's it. I got to spend sometime backstage with him and now so do you!   Here's one quote from the interview: "I never had a career, I had an obsession with music.  And my obsession with it, and maybe a little gift that I had, threw me into the area, but my aim, even when I came overseas, was to learn and to study and everything else is a coincidence.  But I didn't plan to make it for myself.   If you look at anybody who is out there to make it for themselves they self-destruct.  They become very big and then they self-destruct. As long as you've got the "me" thing in your head you're doomed." - Hugh Masekela

Walter Becker, co-founder of Steely Dan, passed away this week. Today, I went digging through my archives and found  a 2010 interview we recorded upon the release of Roger Rosenberg's Baritonality, an album Becker produced.  I found it and wanted to share it immediately.  Walter's open spirit, humility, and excitement about the big and small things around music all come through.  We'll listen to some excerpts from that album and share the complete free wheeling conversation with jazz critic, John Coltelli, myself and the great Walter Becker.

Samarth Nagarkar (vocal), Meghashyam Keshav (tabla), Rohan Prabhudesai (harmonium) perform a 6AM set at the Ragas Live Festival 2016. This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art. Samarth will perform at 10pm. Tickets here  

Max ZT Ensemble played a late night set at the Ragas Live Festival 2016 at Pioneer Works. 1am-2am Max ZT (hammered dulcimer), Sameer Gupta (tabla), Priya Darshini (vocal), This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art. At 4pm Max ZT and Jay Gandhi give a tribute to their world-renowned teachers, Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia.  The duo will perform a set inspired by their gurus’ beloved album, "Call of the Valley."  Max will join the Epichorus at 2 am : with Priya Darshini (vocals), Zach Fredman (oud), Max ZT (hammered dulcimer), Rich Stein (percussion),  Uri Sharlin (accordion) Tickets here

Adam Maalouf feat. Josh Geisler (bansuri) and Shiva Ghoshal Adam Maalouf (hand pans) , Joshua Geisler (bansuri, guitar, electronics), Shivalik Ghoshal (tabla) Adam is pictured here during their 4AM performance from the Ragas Live Festival 2016 at Pioneer Works Ragas Live is coming to the Rubin on October 21, 2017 Tickets here

Pradhanica with Mike Lukshis (tabla), Kaumil Shah (djembe), and Vincent Pierce (cajon), Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury (sitar) perform a 2-3am set at the Ragas Live Festival 2016 at Pioneer Works. This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art and the sitarist Indro Roy-Chowdhury will play at 11am. Tickets here

Abhik Mukherjee (sitar), Shankh Lahiri (Tabla) play the final set of Ragas Live 2016 at Pioneer Works. This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 Abhik will play at 6pm. Tickets here

Daisy Paradis performs a early morning set

Anupam Shobhakar plays a midnight set at Ragas Live Festival 2016. Anupam Shobhakar (sarod) Shankh Lahiri (Tabla) Live at Pioneer Works 12 am -1am Anupam is a dazzling performer and a virtuoso of the Sarod. He has appeared many times at the Ragas Live Festival. This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art. Tickets here    

The 9pm-10 Set Live at Pioneer Works with Snehashish Mozumdar (mandolin), Shiva Ghoshal (tabla) from the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival. Snehashish is an explosive, dynamic performer who is pushing the boundaries of his instrument.  He has played on several Ragas Live Festivals in the past. This year's festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art.   Tickets here    

Here’s a great one from the archives! A beautiful live performance and discussion with Abdoulaye Alhassane Tourewith Deep Sahara at WKCR in 2010.  w/ Yacouba Diabate (Kora) Frederika Krier (Violin) and David Ellenbogen (guitar).  Abdoulaye is a guitarist and singer from Gao, Mali with roots in Northern Mali and Niger.  He brings all these regional sounds of this diverse part of the world into his music.  He also absorbed American Jazz and Blues…you’ll hear it all. More about Abdoulaye: By Banning Eyre | April, 2007 [guitar player mg] Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure has brought string-picking wizardry from the desert towns of West Africa to the nightclubs of New York City. Born in 1963, in Niamey, Niger, to a Sonrai family from Gao, Mali, he passed his youth in a multi-ethnic neighborhood surrounded by Peul, Bambara, Sonrai, and other peoples, and as he put it, “They all played music.” Local radio filled his ears with the sinuous, bluesy strains of desert folklore and the melodious bombast of Mande griots. When his parents returned to Mali, Toure recalled, “They came back with cassettes by Ibrahim Hamma Dicko, Fissa Maiga, and Ali Farka Toure, who sang in a language we understood, and I was incredibly inspired by the originality of this music.” Toure’s musical gift became obvious when he started hanging out in the Niamey nightclub where his uncle, Johnny Ali Maiga, led a band. “Johnny Ali Maiga played folklore, like Ali Farka Toure,” said Toure, “But he also loved rock. His group was on the radio in Niamey, and it sounded like the Malian music I was listening to at home, but sung in Zerma, the national language of Niger.” By the early ’80s, Toure was playing guitar and flute, and his first band incorporated electric guitar, bass, drums, and brass, and merged regional folk styles with international pop. When the group took first prize in a national competition, Toure became a full-time musician. By the late ’80s, he was leading Super Kassey—the first Niamey band to travel abroad and record in a modern studio. Before long, Toure was working as a guitar instructor at the European-run Center for the Education and Promotion of Music. In 1992, Toure teamed up with singer/flutist Yacouba Moumouni to create Niger’s most successful roots pop band to date, Mamar Kassey. Mamar Kassey’s two electrifying CDs, Denke Denke (1999) and Alatoumi (2000) showcase Toure’s guitar mastery and formidable arranging skills. The music is rooted in tradition, but molded into brisk arrangements that include key modulations and bursts of solo improvisation. “Improvisation existed in Sonrai music,” explained Toure, “but in another form. In our ceremonies, there’s an original melody that is played by the kurbu [a 3-stringed lute]. When the energy rises between the players and the dancers, the kurbu player leaves his melody, and follows his heart. But if you tell that kurbu player to work with a modern group and ‘improvise,’ you have to explain to him what it means.” Mamar Kassey’s travels eventually brought Toure to New York City, where he now lives and performs with his current band, Deep Sahara. Toure can cradle an acoustic guitar and fingerpick his way through desert trance grooves, and he can also take up a flatpick, and wail on electric—edging desert folklore into the realm of blues and rock. One day, he plans to return to Niger to set up a studio and form an international touring band. For now, Toure is merely one of the most riveting African guitarists to be found in the United States.  

Jean-Claude van Itallie, is a creative force across many genres.  Norman Mailer called one his works "possibly the best one-act play I have ever seen.” He's a poet, meditator, health-guru, translator, writer and it doesn't stop there.  We sit on the porch with Jean-Claude van Itallie at his inspriring retreat center, Shantigar.

Today we share a WKCR broadcast featuring musicians Amir ElSaffar, Awa Sangho, Roman Diaz, Martha Redbone, and producer Hans Taparia from the India Center Foundation. We were promoting Outside (In)dia a free concert series, at Lincoln Center featuring all those great musicians.  The opening event is this Friday with Amir El Saffar and we'll hear a discussion with Amir as well as music from all these amazing musicians. Outside (In)dia is a four-part concert series produced by The India Center Foundation and curated by Brooklyn Raga Massive that pushes the boundaries and conceptions of Indian classical music. With commissions of new works bringing raga into play with musical traditions spanning Cuba to Iraq, the series will position Indian classical music as a space for inclusion, collaboration, and conversation in a revolutionary new way. Subsequent events in the series will feature Cuban master drummer Román Diaz (Nov 10),powerful Malian singer Awa Sangho (Feb 9) and Native American folk and soul songstress Martha Redbone (Apr 13).

Brooklyn Raga Massive's Coltrane Raga Tribute are about to drop their New Album - and the release party will be a free concert in Prospect Park at Celebrate Brooklyn June 23rd with Pharoah Sanders headlining! We hang with Sameer Gupta, the tabla upstart, drummer and musical director of the project and listen to a live performance from Pioneer Works. If you want to hear it all you'll have to get the album though! This podcast will air on WKCR 89.9 FM-NY on Sunday June 18th at 7pm. The all-star ensemble in the set we hear includes: Sameer Gupta - Drumset/Tabla (musical director), 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

Barbès is a small Brooklyn club which has been presenting music on a daily basis for now 15 years. Started on a shoestring budget in a former barber shop in the South Slope, Barbès has for years acted as a kind of laboratory for all different kinds of new projects and become a true community hub. They're in the hole $70,000K and have turned to the community for support. The community has answered back in a big way.  You can join the movement and find about a great benefit concert here. We hang with Olivier Conan at Barbes and hear tracks from Chicha Libre,  Chicha libre's Canibalismo  Las Rubias del Norte Panamericana and Miramar.

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.  He'll be performing at Dizzy's Club Coca Cola on June 7th and 8th.

The day after a moving performance with Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Jeff Tain Watts an other giants of Jazz, we hung out at home with Jay Gandhi! After our short conversation he shares a special live performance. Jay is an artist who dedicated to the Hindustani tradition and is also bringing his instrument, the bansuri, into new territory.  

The nineteenth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works.  Samarth Nagarkar (vocal), Meghashyam Keshav (tabla), Rohan Prabhudesai (harmonium).  This is a great to chance to experience music created for the sunrise.  It was performed as the first rays broke through the evening sky. Samarth Nagarkar is a Hindustani classical vocalist, known for his captivating performances and richly traditional music. Samarth features in prominent music festivals and venues in India and the US including The ITC Sangeet Sammelan, Kolkata; Chhandayan All Night Concert, The International Fringe Festival and The Drive East Festival, NYC; Maverick Concerts, Woodstock; Ali Akbar College of Music and Basant Bahar, San Francisco; The APAP Showcase at Rockwood Music Hall, NYC; The Kashinath Bodas Music Festival, Pheonix; The Gandharva Festival in New Jersey and Universities like Stanford, UPenn, UPitt and PSU. He has two albums titled ‘Pranali’ and ‘Pravah’ and a book, ‘Raga Sangeet’ to his credit. He has also composed music for major international films and conventions. Samarth is a recipient of the President’s Award for winning the All India Radio’s National Music Competition and a Fellowship from the Ministry of Culture, Government of India. He was formerly head of the K. K. Kapoor Sangeet Research Academy in Lucknow and currently teaches at two prominent music schools in New York, and also teaches adjunct lectures and master-classes at schools/universities like MSM and NYU. He is a former scholar of the prestigious ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata and has trained extensively in the strict guru-shishya parampara under two renowned gurus and top ranking musicians - Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. Pursuing a full-fledged career as a performer, composer, teacher and author, Samarth is described by critics as one of today’s most prolific performers and a torchbearer of the traditions he represents. Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art

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)

We get to hang at home with LADAMA!  We recorded some songs and chat with  Mafer Bandola (bandola llanera), Lara Klaus (percussion, drums), Daniela Serna (percussion)  Sara Lucas (voice, guitar) and Pat Swoboda (bass).   LADAMA is an ensemble of women musicians (joined by Pat for this session) who combine the rhythms and traditional instrumentation of frevo and maracatu from Pernambuco, Brazil;  joropo songs from the high plains of Venezuela; cumbia, gaita and champeta from the Colombian coast and contemporary strains of American pop and jazz. Members of LADAMA specialize in, among other instruments, the bandola llanera from Venezuela, the tambor alegre from Colombia, and the pandeiro and zabumba from Northeast Brazil. Their performances include original compositions and traditional songs sung in Spanish, Portuguese and English combining disparate elements into a cohesive whole. The result is a sonic experience through which we can view our future as a world that communicates across continents and cultures, with sound and story.

We're psyched to see that one of one of our favorite groups in NYC Innov Gnawa is combining forces with the great Vieux Farka Tourre this Thursday at BRIC. Last September, we got sit down and hang with Vieux Farka Toure, talk to him and record a little acoustic music…AND record his entire live set at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan with his moking band!  Many thanks to World Music Institute and Le Poisson Rouge for making that happen. Often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara”, Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. He is the son of legendary Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, who died in 2006. Ali Farka Touré came from a historical tribe of soldiers, and defied his parents in becoming a musician. When Vieux was in his teens, he declared that he also wanted to be a musician. His father dissaproved due to the pressures he had experienced being a musician. Rather, he wanted Vieux to become a soldier. But with help from family friend the kora maestro Toumani Diabaté, Vieux eventually convinced his father to give him his blessing to become a musician shortly before Ali passed. Vieux was initially a drummer / calabash player at Mali’s Institut National des Arts, but secretly began playing guitar in 2001. Ali Farka Touré was weakened with cancer when Vieux announced that he was going to record an album. Ali recorded a couple of tracks with him, and these recordings, which can be heard on Vieux’s debut CD, were amongst his final ones. It has been said that the senior Touré played rough mixes of these songs when people visited him in his final days, at peace with, and proud of, his son’s talent as a musician. He know tours internationally with many acclaimed records to his name.    

With stirring vocal harmonies and luscious arrangements, Miramar breathe life into the classic bolero tradition.  We got to sit down with their music director and keyboardist, Marlyse Simmons and learn about the history of boleros and hear and learn about the muse of their new album Sylvia Rexach.  

The world-renowned Moroccan Festival Gnaoua et Musiques du MondeEssaouira celebrates its 20th anniversary with a debut NYC collaboration. Great Maalems (masters) and all-stars of the festival trace a musical journey of the ancient music of Gnawa during a night of trance and tradition. There will be events all week in NYC. In this WKCR broadcast we get to speak with master drummer, Will Calhoun; Samir Langus and Nawfal Atiq of Innov Gnawa  Meera Dugal of Lincoln Center, about what to expect and delve deep into this magical tradition March 16th | Gnaoua Festival Tour 2017 Kickoff Concert at the David Rubenstein Atrium ft. Maalem Hamid El Kasri, Maalem Abdeslam Alikkane + special guest Maalem Hassan Ben Jaafer https://www.facebook.com/events/1890793107822486/ March 17th | Gnaoua Festival Tour 2017 tradtional concert with Maalem Abdeslam Alikkane at The New School Jazz https://events.newschool.edu/…/gnaoua_festival_tour_2017_an… March 19th | Gnaoua et Jazz at Pioneer Works with Maalem Hamid El Kasri, Maalem Abdeslam Alikkane, Will Calhoun, Marcus Strickland, Marc Cary, and Jamaaladeen Tacuma https://www.facebook.com/events/657330721116926/ Monday, March 20 at 6:30 PM - 9 PM  Panel + Innov Performace at The New School Jazz https://www.facebook.com/events/246751079067805/  Randy Weston Masterclass ft. Maalam Hassan Benjaafar and Samir LanGus of Innov Gnawa (Lec/Dec) To be resecheduled due to weather  https://www.facebook.com/events/393158167717471/

Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik (vocal), Meghashyam Keshav (tabla), Ramachandra Joshi (harmonium) perform Raag Miyan Ki Malhar from 5-6pm at the Ragas Live Festival 2016 in Pioneer Works.

The talented violinist Trina Basu of Karavika joined us on WKCR to present an entire month of women led ensembles at the Brooklyn Raga Massive...we'll hear from Roshni Samlal, Yalini Dream,  Ganavya Doraiswamy, Morely, Karavika, Alif Leila, The Epichorus and much more.

Montreal based Thanya Iyer, creates a compelling mix of Carnatic influenced vocals, impressionist classical composition and electronica.  She brought her voice and keys to WKCR for a live set with Daniel Gelinas on Drums/Synths and  Alex Kasirer-Smibert on bass/synths.   The new album is called "Do you Dream"

Last night at WKCR 89.9 FM-NY,  Brooklyn Raga Massive members created a sea of drones for raga based improvisation, based on the calls coming into the station it seemed to be just what the city needed! The group "Unstruck Sound" will be performing this Friday Feb 24th at the Rubin Museum of Art.. Followed by a Sound Meditation with Acoustic Mandala Project at 9:30 pm Info Tix here  Neel Murgai -Overtone singing, loops, Eric Fraser, Bansuri, Arun Ramamurthy - Violin, David Ellenbogen, Guitar  

The mind blowing singer from Mauritania has been on our radio show before and she's coming to NYC to perform for World Music Institute at (Le) Poisson Rouge Friday, February 24, 2017. We'll share our first encounter with Noura Mint Seymali when we recorded her in Timbuktu with her husband, Jeiche Ould Chighaly.  It was an intimate acoustic recording with a single microphone.  We'll also here a highlight of one of our greatest podcasts ever when we connected next Noura Mint Seymali  in New York City and recorded her and Jeiche with Brooklyn Raga Massive musicians Jay Gandhi and Ehren Hanson.

We get to hang with Albert Mazibuko an member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo for over 30 years.  Albert talks about his memories of times with Nelson Mandela, and how this angel music was both born in the mines and the land of dreams. The group plays B.B. Kings March 8th.

Blato Zlato kicked the doors down at this year's Golden Fest, the amazing annual Balkan festival in NYC featuring over 60 bands.  We got to talk backstage with Lou Carrig, Annalisa Kelly,Ruby Ross and check out selections from their new album Swamp Gold. Formed in 2015, the band performs folk and composed music from the Balkans and Eastern Europe, with a particular focus on Bulgarian songs and improvisational, dreamy, full-energy arrangements.   Blato Zlato is: Lou Carrig – Accordion, Vocals Ian Cook – Violin Annalisa Kelly – Vocals Pete Olynciw – Upright Bass Ruby Ross – Vocals Boyanna Trayanova – Percussion    

Hailing from Venezuela, Betsayda Machado & Parranda El Clavo made their New York debut at GlobalFest this week.  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.

Just before we left for Cuba to record for this podcast, Brooklyn Raga Massive's  Raga Cubana feat. Roman Diaz, had an intimate concert to get ready for our sold out concert a month later at the Rubin Museum of Art. Here we are trying new things and feeling the hometown energy and love from the Raga Massive Jam Session at the Art Cafe With Román Díaz (conductor, batá: iyá ) Giancarlo Luigi (shekere) Clemente la Tierra (batá: okónkolo) Melvis Santa (vocals) Folasona Olorunsola (batá: itótele) Ehren Hanson (tabla) Jay Gandhi (bansuri) David Ellenbogen (guitar) Arun Ramamurthy (violin) Michael Gam (bass) Camila Celin (Sarod)

After three weeks of recording music in Cuba, we return with this special epsiode featuring a live performance from Groupo Folklorico 19 de Septiembre of Santiago de Cuba.  Guided by their lead Bata' drummer, Roberto Maikel Fuentes, we'll learn about 3 rhythms: Guanguanco', Tumba Francesa and Columbia.

The seventh set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works. Neel Murgai (sitar), Sameer Gupta (tabla).  Neel and Sameer will be performing at the Raga Massive Concert and Jam Session at the Art Cafe (885 Pacific Street, Brooklyn) this Wednesday, Jan 4th 8pm. Neel is a multi-instrumental performer, composer and teacher in New York City. He graduated with an MFA in interdisciplinary arts from Goddard College. His life long journey into the depth and beauty of sitar and Indian classical music began in Benares 20 years ago with Ravindra Goswami. Neel has studied sitar for the past 14 years with his guru and mentor Pt. Krishna Bhatt. Neel has studied and plays a variety of instruments ranging from the Persian frame drum to the kanjira, as well as the voice. Neel is interested in creating music that draws from not only Indian Classical Music, but other various traditions as well. Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art

This is last minute post while I am in Cuba collecting great recordings for the all you listeners of the podcast!   A great performance from Dee Harris at Ragas live guitar..more to come.

The ninth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works.  Roopa Mahadevan (vocal) Anjna Swaminathan (violin), Bala Skandan (mridangam), Kabilan Jeginathan (kanjira). Roopa Mahadevan is a versatile vocalist rooted in the South Indian (Carnatic) classical tradition.  Born and raised in San Jose, California, Roopa underwent her major formative training in Carnatic vocal music in under Asha Ramesh, disciple of the late Sangeetha Kalanidhi D.K. Jayaraman and Sri Nanganallur Ramanathan. In 2007, Roopa was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship by the U.S. Department of State to receive advanced Carnatic vocal training in Chennai, India under Suguna Varadachari, a senior guru of the Musiri Subramania Iyer tradition.  Roopa has been a regular performer of Carnatic vocal concerts in the U.S. and India. She has been performing in all of the major “sabhas” in Chennai, India during the December music season, including the prestigious Music Academy. She has received praise from the Carnatic music fraternity and notable press, including The Hindu. She has also performed at the well-known Cleveland Thyagaraja Aradhana, which awarded her the title ‘Kala Ratna’ for her commitment to the pursuit of Carnatic music as a young American. Roopa is also an accomplished Bharathanatyam dancer who has performed her arangetram under the training of the Indumathy Ganesh, disciple of Padmashri Chitra Visweswaran. Roopa is a regular vocal peformer for several of the leading Bharathanatyam and contemporary dancers of the South Asian Diaspora. Roopa is the artistic director of the NYC-based Navatman Music Collective, an Indian Classical Vocal ensemble. Roopa received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology and Master’s degree in Cognitive Science from Stanford University. She is based in New York City, where she balances a career in public health policy with the passionate pursuit of her art Recorded by James Clark mixed by Sameer Gupta. Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art

We hang out with Olivier Conan, the band leader of Chicha Libre, and the owner of Brooklyn's most beloved listening room, Barbes.  We'll hear some of the smoking tracks from his group and his Barbes Records label and get his take on what's happening in the world. Barbes will be hosting a free and open event this Sunday about the general state of the union entitled  What Now? Post Election Gathering at Barbès from 5pm-7pm November 20th 2016. Our next upcoming podcast will be Innov Gnawa's explosive Sufi, Trance set from the same evening at Barbes.  

  As NYC and the world woke up to the results of an election, we gathered, as always, on Wednesday night, our inclusive, diverse music scene taking on a new meaning.    Tomchess and his quartet rose to the occasion and captured the moment with stunning soulful maquam based compositions informed by the free jazz improvisations of of Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane.  Hear the beauty and the promise from this set at the Art Cafe. Tomchess - Oud, Ney Morsing, Composer Zachary Swanson - Upright Bass Abraham Faure Mennon - Tenor Sax Dan Kurfirst - Drums/percussion NYC based Multi-instrumentalist/improviser/composer Tomchess has played and recorded with some of the heaviest players in the improvisational scene (Dewey Redman, Butch Morris, Pharoah Sanders, Drew Gress, Ronald Shannon Jackson), as well as Morrocan Sintarist Hassan Hakmoun. Having deeply studied the Near Eastern, and North African traditions he incorporated the tonal palette, rhythms, and forms of these traditional musics while never losing sight of his American roots and the importance and freedom of improvising. He has performed in Africa, Canada, Holland, India and Italy. He has performed at Lincoln Center, The David Rubinstein Atrium, The Turkish Embassy, The Pakastani Embassy, the Asian Society, The Natural History Museum, The Metropolitan Museum, The Himalayan Museum of Art and The United Nations among countless other venues in NYC and the United States. "...Chess is a superfine improviser with total command of his instrument...Chess leads the group through a buoyant assortment of song-forms as they sustain a high level of interest amid a suspenseful sequence of progressions.... They also mix it up in a jazzy sort of way. ...one of those magical efforts....They hit all the right spots while kicking out the proverbial jams via a fresh slant that yields gratifying results. " -Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz. Zachary Swanson is a double bassist residing in Brooklyn, NY. Using gut strings and a personalized technique, Zachary has developed a conception of the double bass that heightens the integrity of various musical environments. Zachary attended Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with double bassist Michael Formanek and saxophonist Gary Thomas. Abraham Mennen is a South African saxophonist, improvisor and composer currently living in New York. He mostly plays free jazz, improvised and experimental music. Abraham has worked with Louis Moholo, William Parker, Joe Morris, John Lockwood, Herbie Tsoaeli, Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan and many others. Dan Kurfirst is an NYC based percussionist, composer and improviser. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, His playing incorporates aspects of Middle Eastern, West African and Indian music, while being clearly rooted in the American traditions he grew up with. He regularly performs with top musicians in NYC's world-music scene including Tomchess, Matt Darriau, Gabriel Marin, Brian Prunka, Brandon Terzic and Kane Maths. Dan currently serves as creative director of the American Sufi Project, a cross cultural, interfaith ensemble dedicated to re-interpreting traditional Sufi music in a modern context.  

The fourth set of the historic, Ragas Live Festival 2016, live at Pioneer Works.  Dan Weiss (Drumset) and Michael Gam (bass). Weiss has been studying tabla and Indian classical music with his Guru (teacher) Samir Chatterjee since 1998. With his Tintal Drum set Solo,  Dan takes the concept of a traditional Indian tabla solo and migrates it to a conventional drum set. When listening to Tintal Drum set Solo, the trick is to reverse more conventional roles. Whereas, in a typical Western context, one would expect the guitar or bass to be the melodic centre and the drums to be the rhythmic support, here one needs to place Weiss' kit up front, with the other melodic instruments in the supporting role. Ragas Live Festival 2016 is produced with the support of The Rubin Museum of Art

This was an amazing experience. We got to hang in the studio with two legends of Afro-Cuban Jazz: Bobby Carcassés and Arturo O'Farrill! After the two recorded an improvised set we got to sit down and talk music. We also get to hear some music from Bobby's record celebrating his 50 years of creating music in Havana and NYC: 50 TH Aniversario, De La Habana A Nueva York.   ARTURO O’FARRILL, pianist, composer, educator, and founder and Artistic Director of the nonprofit Afro Latin Jazz Alliance, was born in Mexico and grew up in New York City.  His debut album with the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Una Noche Inolvidable, earned a first GRAMMY Award nomination in 2006. His next album Song for Chico, earned a GRAMMY Award for Best Latin Jazz Album in 2009.  The 2015 release of The Offense of the Drum was yet another Grammy Award winner.  Arturo was, in addition, the winner of the Latin Jazz USA Outstanding Achievement Award, and a Cubadisco Award for The Offense of the Drum in 2015. His newest album release (August 21, 2015) is Cuba:The Conversation Continues on the Motéma label. This album’s Afro Latin Jazz Suite  was warded the 2016 GRAMMY award for Best Instrumental Composition. Arturo received his formal musical education at the Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory, and the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. As his professional career began to expand, Arturo was the pianist with the Carla Bley Big Band from 1979 through 1983.  He then went on to develop as a solo performer with a wide spectrum of artists including Dizzy Gillespie, The Fort Apache Band, Lester Bowie, Wynton Marsalis, and Harry Belafonte.   BOBBY CARCASSES - Born into a Cuban family (his maternal grandfather worked as a diplomat in Jamaica at the time of his birth), Carcasses moved with his family back to Cuba aged four, where he was surrounded by the various forms of local music. However, he started out as an opera singer before switching to Cuban music and working as a vocalist at the famous Tropicana nightclub. It was here that he first began to experiment with incorporating scat and bebop influences into his vocal style. By 1960 he was also known as a dancer and athlete (he was Cuba’s Long Jump Champion for that year) and as a multi-instrumentalist (playing trumpet, bass, congas and drums). Later in the decade he travelled, including a year in Paris playing with resident jazz greats Bud Powell and Kenny ‘Klook’ Clarke. On his return to Cuba Carcasses formed his own jazz group, as well as acting in films and television. In 1980 he organized the first Jazz Plaza Festival, bringing to Cuba a host of international artists including Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Haden and Airto Moreira. The festival became an annual event, with Carcasses and his band performing each year. He also toured extensively throughout Europe and the USA, performing alongside Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri and many other big names of Latin jazz. Jazz Timbero was recorded in Havana in 1997 with an all-star Cuban big band (including members of Irakere and Los Van Van), playing a funky mix of Latin and jazz. His son is Roberto Carcasses the jazz pianist.  

  This was an amazing experience!  We sit down with one of the great families of rhythm for a live performance and interview.  TH Vikku Vanyakram and family will be back in NYC, starting Oct. 24th teaching an incredible workshop on rhythm.   Recorded at the East Indian Music Academy, this is a legendary lineup: TH Vikku Vanyakram,  Uma Shankar -ghatam Selva Ganesh, Swaminathan - khanjira, konnakol. A. Ganesan - morsing Avirodh Sharma, tabla Special thanks to Avorodh Sharma for expertly mixing and hosting us. TH Vikku Vanyakram  Rhythm has always been a quintessential facet of Carnatic music, and in the modern generation of percussionists, perhaps no other individual has mastered the intricacies and the laya endowments of the ghatam to such a great degree as Sri Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram. T.H. Vinayakram, affectionately known as Vikku, has transformed himself into an international celebrity with his imaginative and beautiful drumming on the ghatam. Well known as a Carnatic artiste, Vikku came to international prominence as part of the famous fusion group Shakti, and went on to participate in many other international fusion music projects. WEBSITE V. Selvaganesh Selvaganesh Vinyakaram is the world’s premiere performer on the kanjira, the South Indian frame drum. The T.H. Vinayakram,  he is also a veteran of the fusion group 'Remember Shakti' with John McLaughlin. His solo album Soukha (2006) featured all of the members of Remember Shakti, as well as his father and Masters of Percussion sitarist Niladri Kumar. Selvaganesh is also a major force in Tamil film making circles, composing songs in a beguiling mixture of genres, from folk to hip-hop to romantic ballads, and backed by a wide array of players from all over the world. Avirodh Sharma is one of the leading Tabla Players from the West Indies and the United States. He is featured on Zee TV, TV Asia, NPR radio on the leonard lopatte show, NY Daily News, and at the end of 2015 making an appearance on the Starz Network Season Premiere, "flesh and bone"..

This was a real incredible experience.  We got sit down and hang with Vieux Farka Toure, talk to him and record a little acoustic music...AND record his entire live set at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan with his smoking band!  Many thanks to World Music Institute and Le Poisson Rouge for making this happen.  This podcast will air on WKCR 89.9 FM-NY at 11pm Sunday Oct 2nd and stream and www.wkcr.org. Often referred to as “The Hendrix of the Sahara”, Vieux Farka Touré was born in Niafunké, Mali in 1981. He is the son of legendary Malian guitar player Ali Farka Touré, who died in 2006. Ali Farka Touré came from a historical tribe of soldiers, and defied his parents in becoming a musician. When Vieux was in his teens, he declared that he also wanted to be a musician. His father dissaproved due to the pressures he had experienced being a musician. Rather, he wanted Vieux to become a soldier. But with help from family friend the kora maestro Toumani Diabaté, Vieux eventually convinced his father to give him his blessing to become a musician shortly before Ali passed. Vieux was initially a drummer / calabash player at Mali’s Institut National des Arts, but secretly began playing guitar in 2001. Ali Farka Touré was weakened with cancer when Vieux announced that he was going to record an album. Ali recorded a couple of tracks with him, and these recordings, which can be heard on Vieux’s debut CD, were amongst his final ones. It has been said that the senior Touré played rough mixes of these songs when people visited him in his final days, at peace with, and proud of, his son’s talent as a musician. He know tours internationally with many acclaimed records to his name.    

  Vocalists Sattar Khan Langa, Manjoor Khan Manganiyar  join us at WKCR for a live in-studio set.  The music from this region is recognized around the world for its virtuosity and beauty.  The chance to see and hear real live Rajasthani folk music is really rare and these guys really blew us away.