Go: Organic Orchestra & Brooklyn Raga Massive: Ragmala
“Ragmala A Garland of Ragas is magnificent music for our times: earthy, glowing, roving and boundless in its creativity and challenging vision for a world united by music.”
Boston Concert Reviews
A 21st century orchestra meets 13th century raga in this supergroup that brings together global music pioneer Adam Rudolph and his ground-breaking Go: Organic Orchestra with “leaders of the raga renaissance” (New York Times) Brooklyn Raga Massive. Hailed as a meeting of “two of the most interesting bands in the USA” (London Jazz Times), Ragmala bridges generations, cultures and traditions in a deep-rooted, forward-looking sound born of 21st-century innovation and hybrid voices.
Ragmala is excited to join the 55th edition of the Paul Brown Monday Night Jazz Series in Hartford’s Bushnell Park. The series has been recognized as a New England Legacy and is referenced in the Library of Congress as the oldest free continuously run jazz festival in the United States.
The FREE event kicks off with Nick Di Maria & Skylab at 6pm followed by Ragmala at 7:30pm.
About Ragmala
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 (BRM) – the resulting sound is something entirely new. The 28-person touring 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.”
Brooklyn Raga Massive Performing Artists:
Jay Gandhi – bansuri
Arun Ramamurthy – violin
Trina Basu – violin
Samarth Nagarkar – vocal
Neel Murgai – rhythm sitar, overtone singing
Sameer Gupta – tabla
Go: Organic Orchestra Performing Artists:
Michel Gentile – c flute
Sylvain Leroux – tambin, c flute
Ze Luis – c and alto flute
Avram Fefer – tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
Sara Schoenbeck – bassoon
Ivan Barenboim – b flat clarinet
Ned Rothenberg – soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, shakuhachi
Stephen Haynes – cornet, flugelhorn, didgeridoo, conch, kudu horn
Julianne Carney-Chung – violin
Sana Nagano – violin
Gwen Laster – viola
Richard Carr – violin
Stephanie Griffin – viola
Jake Charkey – cello
Leco Reis – contrabass
Mia Theodoratus – harp
Marco Cappelli – acoustic guitar
Kenny Wessel – el guitar
Alexis Marcelo – keyboards
Damon Banks – electric bass
Harris Eisenstadt – bata (iya, itotele, okonkolo), percussion
Rogerio Boccato – caxixi, mineiro, temple blocks, bells, wood box surdo and percussion
Go: Organic Orchestra/Brooklyn Raga Massive is funded in part by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies.