Manik Khan (sarod) + Sudhakar Vaidyanathan (tabla) pay tribute to Manik’s father, Ali Akbar Khan.2:30 AM Set of the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 2022Originally broadcast on WKCR-FMThe next festival is happening 10/18-19 at Pioneer Works, tix and info at www.ragaslive.com

2:00 AM set of the 24 hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 10.20.24 U. Rajesh (mandolin), Harshad Kanetka (tabla) and Swaminathan Selvaganesh (kanjira) at the Ragas Live Festival More details and tix for this October at Ragas Live Festival 

It was an incredible thill to hang with Jaimoe, the legendary drummer of the Allman Brothers at WKCR 2014.  To hear Jaimoe's song selections from the program, check out this playlist on spotify.    Jaimoe shared stories and dug through our record library. When asked if he had a good time, he said "That's a f#$ng understatement!" Also joining us was Alan Paul the band's official biographer and s Coltelli a jazz critic and force for good in music. This was during the Allman Brothers last run of shows at the Beacon and John and I went together the next day to watch from the stage. His new project is The Brothers led by Jaimoe, Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes who just played 2 blistering shows at Madison Square Garden.

Joe Boyd is a legendary producer who helped bring artists like Pink Floyd, Nick Drake and Toumani Diabate to the world alongside producing classic albums by Toots and the Maytals, REM, Taj Mahal and countless others.  His new book is "And the Roots of Rhythm Remain" and it is an astounding and inspiring history of music from around the globe.  I can't recommend it enough.  Joe Boyd will be at the The Local in Saugurties March 18, and April 9th at The Powerhouse Arena in Brooklyn . 

Jay Gandhi (bansuri) and Ishaan Ghosh (tabla) perform Rag Malkauns at the  Ragas Live Festival 2024. 12:30 AM set of the 24 hour event.   A multifaceted artist, Jay Gandhi’s music is at once reflective of his devotion to his Guru, the inimitable legend of the bansuri, Pt Hariprasad Chaurasia, as well as a diverse range of other musical influences. Jay’s initial training in Hindustani music was under Smt. Kum Kum Sanyal (vocal) and later in bansuri under Pt. Ronu Majumdar and Pt. Raghunath Seth. Inspired to gain deeper knowledge of both the gayaki ang (vocal style) as well as the tantrakari ang (stringed instrument style), Jay has also taken valuable guidance from Pt Vidyadhar Vyas (vocal) and Pt. Nayan Ghosh (sitar, tabla). In 2006, he was blessed to have been accepted as a disciple of Padma Vibhushan Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, and has since had the honor of accompanying his Guru on stage for multiple concert tours. From his formative years, Jay’s musical inclinations were not limited to that of the Indian sub-continent and he was also strongly drawn to the music of the African diaspora and American Jazz in particular. With the desire to bring the sound and versatility of the bansuri into the jazz idiom in a meaningful way, he formally studied Jazz Performance at Oberlin College/Conservatory of Music (Ohio) and trained under such Jazz luminaries as Gary Bartz and the late Marcus Belgrave. Today, his journey into this world continues to evolve in new and promising ways, and in more recent times he has had the fortune of performing with such greats as Ravi Coltrane, Reggie Workman, Jeff “Tain” Watts, as well as of sharing the stage with one of the great voices of the tenor saxophone, Pharoah Sanders himself. A recipient of the prestigious AIIS Performing Arts Fellowship, Jay maintains a busy schedule performing for audiences across the globe. He currently is based out of New York City, where he is very active as both a teacher and performer and also as a founding member of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a prominent musicians collective. Ishaan Ghosh stands out as one of the front-ranking Tabla players in the younger generation of the Indian classical music scene. An exceptionally gifted child prodigy, Ishaan gave his first Tabla solo recital when he was barely 2.5 years old. Subsequently, his inherent talent, perseverance and sincere dedication have carried him to unprecedented heights of success and fame as one of the most promising Tabla players of his generation. Materialising the imagination and vision of his father Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Ishaan is committed to uphold the gravity of the art form professed by his family. He is the grandson of the renowned 20th-century Tabla maestro and guru- Padmabhushan Pandit Nikhil Ghosh and the grand-nephew of the pioneer flautist, Pannalal Ghosh. His captivating Tabla solos are an eclectic amalgamation of figured articulations and complex rhythmic tapestries groomed with appealing delineations drawn from the vast repertoire which he has inherited under maestro Nayan Ghosh’s blessed tutelage. He has carved a niche for himself in both solo Tabla playing and accompaniment. His power-packed solo performances and sensitive accompaniment have won him critical acclaim from both musicians and connoisseurs. He has performed with landmark figures in the Indian classical music field including his father Pt. Nayan Ghosh, Pt Jasraj, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, Pt. Buddhadev Dasgupta, Ustad Aashish Khan, Ustad Nishat Khan, Pt. Tejendra Narayan Majumdar, violin legend Dr. N Rajam, Kaushiki Chakraborty, Rakesh Chaurasia & Purbayan Chatterjee, among several other prominent artistes.Despite being firmly grounded in the classical tradition, Ishaan continues to explore new vistas of Tabla playing through his novel interpretations and creative collaborations with musicians of various other genres like Jazz Guitarist Max Clouth of Germany, Mohammad Rasouli and percussionists Fakhroddin Ghaffari and Hamid R

Two of our favorite artists, Saraswathi Ranganathan (veena) & Swaminathan Selvaganesh (kanjira) returned to Ragas Live Festival 2024 for a late night/early morning set of Carnatic music.It was 5:30 AM set of the 24 hour festival at Pioneer Works on 10.20.24 and Saraswathi led the audience on a journey.   Saraswathi brings with her a legacy of firsts. She is the first Indian woman and Veena artiste to win a Chicago Music Award in its 35-year history, the first Veena artiste to perform as an 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. Swaminathan Selvaganesh is a renowned percussionist hailing from a family of world-class musicians. Born into a musical dynasty, he is the grandson of Padma Bhushan recipient T.H. Vikku Vinayakram and the son of Grammy winner V. Selvaganesh, both prominent figures in the world of Indian percussion

We hang a maestro of Bulgarian music, Lubomir Smilenov, and hear his incredible performance from Ragas Live Festival 2020 with Matt Moran.  Both performers will be featured at this weekend's Zlatne Ustne Golden Festival January 17-18 in Astoria, Queens. Lubomir Smilenov, born in Bulgaria and raised in New York City, found a unique expression of his heritage through the Kaba Gaida, the traditional Bulgarian bagpipe. He learned the intricate skills of this ancient instrument in Midtown Manhattan, where Kiril Ketev of Smolyan, Bulgaria, led a weekly Gaida workshop. Today, Lubomir teaches at 101 Kaba Gaidi NYC, where he shares his expertise with students eager to learn the traditional music. He has performed at venues such as the MET Museum, Golden Fest, Hungarian House, and the International Bagpipe Conference, specializing in music from the Rhodope region of Southern Bulgaria. Lubomir strives to immerse his audiences and students in the vibrant musical heritage of the Gaida. Vibraphonist and tunesmith Matt Moran "plays the vibraphone like a speed-chess master, always darting off into flurries of ingenious, unexpected activity" (Village Voice). Although he was named "Rising Star" on vibraphone by the 2014 Downbeat Critics Poll, Moran is just as often known for his work as the drummer and bandleader for brass band Slavic Soul Party! His career exists in diverse musical environments, from chamber music to jazz to Balkan folk music, and evinces a dedication to music education for incarcerated people. Moran has released 10 albums as a leader, and performed on nearly 100 albums by other artists, including Sufjan Stevens, Theo Bleckmann, William Parker, Ellery Eskelin, and Luciana Souza. His longtime collaboration with percussionist/composer John Hollenbeck has been documented on 8 recordings by Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet as well as recordings of his Large Ensemble and chamber music. Lengthy relationships are a hallmark of Moran's style: in addition to Slavic Soul Party!'s 20 years of music making, he has worked for many years with the artists Nate Wooley, Curtis Hasselbring, Daniel Levin, Brian Shankar Adler, Peter Hess, Raif Hyseni, Bojan Vuletic, and Mat Maneri. For the past decade, Moran has been an educator and performer for Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, with a special focus on education, creation, and performance for New Yorkers in many different parts of the judicial system. Currently, he co-leads Carnegie Hall's music education program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. Moran has a Master's degree in jazz composition from New England Conservatory where he studied with composer and improviser Joseph Maneri, and a Bachelor's degree in jazz composition from Berklee College of Music where he studied with Ed Saindon and Gary Burton.

New York's greatest music bash, the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival is returning to Astoria Queens, January 17-18, 2025.  Over 50 ensembles particiapte on several stages and dancefloors, brass bands, polyphonic choirs...Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romani, Turkish, Serbian, Greek, Persian, Klezmer, you name it... after 39 years of this festival it has evolved to become one incredible party.     In this episode Jerry Kisslinger a founding member of Zlatne Uste and Pontic Firebird, shares some burning tracks and we dig in to the roots of this music this wild event.  

The most mind-blowing message I ever received was from the multi Grammy winning,  ground-breaking kora master, Toumani Diabate, in 2020.  Recorded hours earlier in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa it was a live performance he made with his sons Ahmed Diabate and Balla Diabate to contribute to that year's virtual Ragas Live Festival. "Was it ok?" He asked.   OK? It was astounding! In this special episode we celebrate the life of Toumani Diabate by sharing the behind the scenes messages behind this miraculous recording that almost never happened.  Toumani Diabate's ancestors became musicians in the 13th century and stayed in an unbroken line of griots, or djeles of the Manding empire.  He was a 71st generation musician.  More than any other Kora player he brought his instrument to the world and touched millions of hearts. Here are some essential recordings to get you started:KairaNew Ancient Strings with Ballaké SissokoAli and Toumani (with Ali Farka Toure)Kulanjan (with Taj Mahal)

This was the second interview we conducted with Zakir Hussain, who passed away on December 15, 2024.  More than any other musician who came before him, he brought the tabla to an international stage.  His story, like the man, is legend.  I hope our conversation encourages you to dig deep into his rich catalog of astounding recordings including his own Making Music, all the Shakti albums, Planet Drum, stunning classical recordings with Ali Akbar Khan, Shiv Kumar Sharma, Hariprasad Chaurasia; his tabla solos with his Ud. Allah Rakah and much more.   He will be missed but his impact will live on.  

An unbelievable live performance featuring 2024 Grammy Award winner Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin) and Anantha R. Krishnan (mridangam) as broadcast on WKCR from the Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works in 2024.You can hear our conversation after the set on the previous podcast.  A virtuoso since childhood Ganesh Rajagopalan has been performing on stage since the tender age of 7 years old. He has been dazzling audiences for 50 years, most recently with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and the Shakti ensemble.  The grandson and disciple of mridangam maestro, Shri. Palghat R. Raghu, Anantha R. Krishnan started learning the fundamentals of the mridangam under his uncle, Shri. R. Ramkumar and then began an official tutelage under his grandfather at the age of five. He performed his first concert at the age of seven. During this period, he received many awards from traditional organizations of Carnatic Music in India, including the Best Mridangist Prize from the Music Academy, Madras, a record five times in six years. Also, he was awarded the State of the Arts Award from the New Jersey government twice in 1997-1998 as part of the National Endowment of the Arts’ effort to promote cultural awareness in the U.S.A. Anantha holds a BA in Western Music and Philosophy from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Electronic Music and Percussion from Mills College, California. During this time he studied Western percussion under William Winant. Specializing in contemporary 20th century percussion music. He is also a special interest student of tabla under Ustad Zakir Hussain for the past six years.

After an incredible set with Anantha R. Krishnan (mridangam)at Ragas Live Festival, we caught up with THE violin maestro, 2024 Grammy Award winner Ganesh Rajagopalan, for a quick on-air conversation about his journey in music.  A child prodigy who began performing at the age of seven, Ganesh rose to stardom performing with legends like tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and guitarist John McLaughlin of Shakti fame as well as for his solo violin work with Oscar-winning Bollywood music director A. R. Rahman and many others. 

A memorable performance from Slowspin at the Ragas Live Festival 2024 featruing Zeerak Ahmed (vocals+electronics), Grey Mcmurray (guitar), Marlon Patton (drums) Shahzad Ismaily (bass)     This was the 9PM set on October 21st, the 4th set during 24 hours of continuous music at Pioneer Works, in Red Hook Brooklyn. US-based Pakistani artist, Slowspin (Zeerak Ahmed) has a distinct sound practice grounded in North Indian classical vocal traditions, dream-folk, ambient and experimental-electronic music. By taking the thumri and recontextualizing it for contemporary music—ambient, dream pop, guitar-based folk—she is excavating this buried alternative history. These centuries-old songs and traditions send down fresh roots into new soil on TALISMAN, still aching for home but open to new possibilities for growth, new histories to write. Much like Ahmed herself, and millions of others in the South Asian diaspora. “They tell me not to plant things where they don’t belong,” Ahmed sings in understated defiance on the closing “Belong.” “What if that’s all I know?” – Pitchfork US-based Pakistani artist Zeerak Ahmed, who performs under the stage name Slowspin, produces voice-based sculptures, sound installations and uniquely fragile sound collages. Slowspin has a distinct sound practice grounded in North Indian classical vocal traditions, dream-folk, ambient and experimental-electronic music. Poetry and melodies in her mother tongue(s)—Urdu, Farsi, Purbi and English—build new textural soundscapes. Her collaborative album, TALISMAN, opens a world of Slowspin’s uncanny and heart-wrenching refrains, delivering a balm for the migrant’s journey into the unknown: the abyss of love, loss and longing. Since the release of the TALISMAN, she has been performing with the album’s co-producer Grey Mcmurray (Tongues in Trees trio, Beth Orthon, Ali Sethi), Marlon Patton (Lonnie Holley, The Mace Hibbard Quintet) and Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist, Shahzad Ismaily (Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, Love in Exile).

 Ud. Bashir Khan (bulbul tarang) and Ud. Feroz Khan (tabla) perform Rag Desh on 10/19/2024 at the Ragas Live Festival 2024 at Pioneer Works.  This was a very rare presentation of Raga on the Bulbul Tarang a unique instrument used more often in folk music and light classical from Pakistan and India.   The instrument was created in Japan in 1912 based on the concept of combining the mechanics of a typewriter with a musical instrument.   By the 1930s the instrument had arrived in India and was adapted in both India and Pakistan to suit their local styles.  Mohammad Bashir Khan, originally from Rajasthan India, is one of the foremost exponents of his instrument, Bubul Tarang. He hails from a family of six generations of artists. As a follower of the Kirana Gharana under maestro Abdul Rehman Khansahib, he has applied his training to this unique instrument and regularly accompanied the highest profile artists including Ustad Mehdi Hassan, Ghulam Ali, Nursrat Fateh Ali Khan, Pankaj Udas, and Hari Haran. He regularly works with Bollywood movie directors and can be heard in many movies.  

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 carrythe 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 Afghanand Indian percussion draws out the musical parallels with Hindustani music, exploring the essence of Ragas and theprofound connection between two diverse yet harmonious traditions.These master musicians have perfected their art in the traditional ustâd-shâgird apprenticeship in the wake of theirfamilies’ flight from Afghanistan following the chaos of the Soviet invasion – Salar, disciple of the legendary Ustad ZakirHussain; and Homayoun, disciple of the revered Afghan Rubab maestro Ustad Mohammed Omar. Salar has touredextensively with NEA Jazz Master Stanley Clarke, appeared on Broadway with “The Kite Runner,” and together withHomayoun Sakhi took part in a series of recordings of the music of Afghanistan and Central Asia sponsored by Aga KhanMusic 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 powerfulreminder of the resilience and importance of preserving cultural heritage.www.salarnader.comwww.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.