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.comYou 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 MridangamThe 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.comYou can also watch a video of this performance on YouTube here.

We chat with Qawwal legend Abu Muhammad and hear a live performance from Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal & Brothers! Fareed Ayaz, Abu Muhammad Qawwal & Brothers are among the world’s very finest exponents of Qawwali - a hypontic, vocal-driven form of Sufi devotional music rich in poetic and mystical symbolism. Their group, in the typical style of their genre, is led by powerful vocalists, who loop through multiple verse-chorus sequences backed by other singers as well as harmonium, tabla, dholak, and hand-claps. Fareed Ayaz (or, to give him his full name, Ustad Ghulam Fariduddin Ayaz Al-Hussaini Qawwal) leads the group, along with his younger brother Abu Muhammad, while other brothers and family members form the rest of the musical core. Fareed and Abu first learned from their father, the esteemed Ustad Munshi Raziuddin, who hails from the Qawwal Bachchon Ka gharana, a tradition stretching back to Amir Khusrow’s disciples in 14th-century Delhi. They also perform semi-classical forms from outside the Qawwali repertoire, including tarana, thumri, and khayal. Several decades of touring has seen the brothers sing to vast crowds all around the world, as well as making over a dozen crossover excursions into film music and Coke Studio.

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

The Iberi Choir join the Ragas Live Festival from the Republic of Georgia!

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