Brooklyn Raga Massive has been making waves for their role instigating what the New York Times, New Yorker, and Wall Street Journal have called a “Raga Renaissance.” The Go: Organic Orchestra with Adam Rudolph has been pushing the boundaries of large ensemble creative music for over 20 years, collaborating with musicians such as Yusef Lateef, Bennie Maupin, Don Cherry, Sam Rivers, Pharaoh Sanders, and L. Shankar. This ambitious project brings together “two of the most interesting bands in the USA” (London Jazz Times) Brooklyn Raga Massive and Go: Organic Orchestra into a synergistic exploration of raga, India’s classical music and contemporary creative music.
While the music of Ragmala draws inspiration from a wealth of traditions – the globe-spanning rhythmic influences that converge in Rudolph’s music as well as the Indian classical music explored by the members of Brooklyn Raga Massive – the resulting sound is something entirely new. The 40-piece orchestra speaks in a hybrid tongue that reflects the immigrant experience, with diverse cultures congregating and enriching one another in profound and surprising ways. Using a groundbreaking improvisational conducting approach invented by Rudolph, each member’s distinctive identity shines through in a singular vivid tapestry of transcendent and harmonious sound or what critic Ian Ward of UK Vibes calls “a truly global, celestial, cosmic "world" music.”
“While Philadelphia’s Painted Bride Art Center has been presenting jazz, improvised and/or experimental music for half a century, it’s still entirely possible this was the most sweepingly wide, boundary-defying cross-cultural performance the venue has ever seen."
Adam Rudolph, iya, itotele
Abderahim Hakmoun, qarqaba, vocals
Abhik Mukherjee, sitar
Alexis Marcelo, keyboards
Arun Ramamurthy, violin
Avram Fefer, tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Bala Skandan, mridangam
Charles Burnham, violin
Damon Banks, electric bass
David Ellenbogen, electric rhythm guitar
Graham Haynes, cornet, flugelhorn, kudu horn,
bamboo vaccine
Gwen Laster, violin
Hamid Drake, drum kit, okonkolo
Harris Eisenstadt, bata (iya, itotele, okonkolo)
Hassan Hakmoun, sintir, vocal
Ivan Barenboim, b flat clarinet
Jay Gandhi, bansuri
Julianne Carney-Chung, violin
Kaoru Watanabe, c flute, fue, noh kan
Leco Reis, contrabass
Libby Schwartz, french horn
Marco Cappelli, electric and acoustic guitars
Mari Tanaka, tanpura
Mariano Gil, bass flute
Mia Theodoratus, harp
Michel Gentile, c flute
Neel Murgai, rhythm sitar, overtone singing
Peter Zummo, trombone, didgeridoo, conch,
kudu horn
Richard Carr, violin
Rogerio Boccato, caxixi, mineiro, temple blocks,
bells, wood box surdo
Samarth Nagarkar, vocals
Sameer Gupta, tabla
Sana Nagano, violin
Sara Schoenbeck, bassoon
Sean Sonderegger, bass, contrabass clarinet,
soprano saxophone
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Stephen Haynes, cornet, flugelhorn, solo alto,
pocket trumpet, didgeridoo, conch, kudu horn
Sylvain Leroux, chromatic tambin, tambin, c flute
Trina Basu, violin
Ze Luis, c and alto flute
“This collaboration with the adventurous, multi-cultural collective Brooklyn Raga Massive is an absolutely inspired pairing. For the last seven years, BRM have been fusing Indian classical music, US minimalism and deep jazz to stunning effect. Moreover, both units share an abiding belief in the power of music to transcend cultural boundaries and reach deep spiritual regions. There's a mysterious sense of scale and antiquity to the whole date, even when it veers into the murky, Bitches Brew-style electric jazz, as on ‘Ascent To Now,’ which combines Indian instrumentation with billowing horn charts and driving rim-shot momentum. It's a stunning journey into the unknown.”