Ragmala Go:Organic Orchestra

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."

- All About Jazz

Upcoming events

February 18, 2023
Ragmala at Sons D'Hiver Paris

Upcoming events

November 19, 2016
Raga Roots: Samarth Nagarkar

Upcoming events

July 23, 2016
Ragas Live Festical

Affiliated artists

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.”

- Jazzwise UK