NYC Radio Live

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 Hin

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 woma

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,

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.

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 s

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 albu

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 o

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

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 pr

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 mech