Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Rāginī Festival teams up with the Rubin Museum’s K2 Lounge to explore the theme of “Life After” though a joyful, musical lens. Seeking to invigorate diasporic community engagement and inclusion, heal the infliction of colonial borders, and amplify the creative voices of non-patriarchal creators, The Rāginī Festival brings together artistic and musical threads from across oceans - retracing the labyrinth of memory and cultural myth-making. Life After colonialism revealed a fractured South Asian identity which has informed post-colonial identity politics of the Indo-Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, and more. Representing Rāginī Festival's curatorial mission to explore music that both captures folk and traditional art born out of the migrations of the diaspora, DJ Cardamami (Anisa Jackson), DJ Raat ki Rani (Roshni Samlal), and DJ offering rain (melika davé) will transport you into a trans-indies experience.
This event is free!
Featured Artists
DJ Cardamami (Anisa Jackson) is a Brooklyn based DJ. They draw inspiration from their Afro-Caribbean & South Asian roots. They are the co-host of Yalla Yeehaw (@yalla.yeehaw), a party featuring Arab pop, Bhangra, & other Southwest Asian, North African, & South Asian sounds and the host of Spicy Trax, a monthly radio show for Playground Radio. (@djcardamami)
DJ Raat Ki Rani (Roshni Samlal) is a New York-based, Trinidadian classically trained tabla player, educator and DJ. Roshni also explores creating sound design landscapes and beat production as a context for presenting tabla solos. She is the lead curator and producer of the Rāginī Festival which focuses on spotlighting the work of artists engaged in traditional folk and innovative arts within the further reaches of the South Asian diaspora, focusing on Indo-Caribbean heritage. Her DJ sets also take inspiration from her heritage and Queens upbringing. (@roshni_samlal)
offering rain (melika davé) is an NYC born and based multi-media artist and organizer of Indian & Ecuadorian descent working in the realms of sound and image. They utilize their artistic practice in hopes of refreshing the earth like rain through multicultural sound, poetry and symbolism.Their previous work has been exhibited at Art on the Ave NYC, Soho House, Knockdown Center and Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. As a DJ, they have worked in collaboration with HBO Max, Instagram, and mutual.love and their music has been featured on Euphoria, Genera+ion and Walker.
About Rāginī Festival
Rāginī Festival, is a month-long festival of Brooklyn Raga Massive that explores the work of artists challenging systemic patriarchy in the South Asian creative ecosystem. Seeking to provide equitable and collaborative performance spaces, invigorate diasporic community engagement and inclusion, heal the infliction of colonial borders, and amplify the creative voices of non-patriarchal creators, The Rāginī Festival brings together artistic and musical threads from across oceans - retracing the labyrinth of memory and cultural myth-making. The 2023 edition of Rāginī Festival offers a month-long, cross-oceanic immersion into folk, classical, and contemporary art of the Indies, both East and West. Seeking to build threads of connection and also to acknowledge rifts in diasporic identity, Rāginī Festival 2023 journeys through expressions of Surinamese baithak ghana chanting, Trinidadian Bhojpuri folk song, queer “Coolitude” poetics, and South Asian classical music. Learn more about Rāginī Festival here.
