“24 hours of uninterrupted, absolutely incredible music performances”

- Jason Mantzoukas in the New York Times

Inspired by the time specific nature of raga, where certain modes are only invoked to match the mood of specific times of day, the Ragas Live Festival is BRM’s 24-hour marathon celebration of raga music in all its forms alongside traditions from every corner of the globe.

Since 2012, the Ragas Live Festival has expanded the audience and presentation of raga, South Asia’s epic, classical music form. Inspired by the time specific nature of raga, where certain modes are only invoked to match the mood of specific times of day, Ragas Live first broke new ground in 2012 when BRM co-founder, musician and radio host David Ellenbogen gathered a community of 50 musicians to collaborate for a 24 hour radio broadcast on WKCR 89.9 FM-NY, the first of its kind, even in India. 

In 2016, the festival graduated from the radio studio and was broadcast remotely in front of an enthusiastic audience at Pioneer Works, a 25,000 square foot experimental arts venue in Red Hook, Brooklyn. In 2017, Ragas Live was held at The Rubin Museum of Art for 24 Hours of Sacred Sound complete with sunrise prayer and meditation. Check out our Ragas Live Retrospective album covering music from 2011-2017 here. In 2020, the festival again broke new ground during the height of the pandemic lockdowns, when it broadcast a 24 video livestream from 15 cities and 9 countries. This iteration of the festival featured 90 musicians, including many legends of music such as Toumani Daibate (from Côte D’Ivoire), Zakir Hussain (from SF Jazz), Betsayda Machado (from Venezuela), and the legendary composer Terry Riley from Japan.

In 2022, Ragas Live featured transcendent performances by Parvathy Baul, a leading exponent of the mystical Baul sect of West Bengal, as well as the ecstatic trance music of Gnawa from Samir Langus. The evening also featured performances by Samarth Nagarkar and Vinay Desai, and ended with an improvisational set with Arun Ramamurthy Trio (ART). 

This year, Ragas Live will take place at Pioneer Works from Oct 14-15.

Click here to buy tickets

Ragas Live Festival is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Brooklyn Arts Council. Brooklyn Arts Fund (DCLA) is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council.

8:00 PM
Gaurav Mazumdar
Sitar Maestro - the legendary disciple of Ravi Shankar
9 :00 PM
Trina Basu & Arun Ramamurthy
Carnatic/Western violin duo
10:00 PM
Amirtha Kidambi, Qasim Naqvi & Rafiq Bhatia Trio
Experimental trio including Rafiq Bhatia of Son Lux, nominated this year for the Academy Award for the Everything Everywhere All at Once soundtrack
11:15 PM
Celebrating John McLaughlin & Mahavishnu
A mind blowing ensemble including Premik Russel Tubbs an original member of Mahavishnu Orchestra
12:30 AM
Mind Maintenance
Chad Taylor and Joshua Abrams of The Roots, Tortoise etc. on Sintir and Mbira
1:45 AM
Hindole Majumdar & Ayushman Majumdar
Tabla duo from one of the greats with his virtuoso son
2:45 AM
Mitali Banerjee Bhawmik
Sr. Hindustani Vocal Artiste with ensemble
4:15 AM
Quadrature
Jazz meets Raga led by Neel Murgai
5:30 AM
Suphala
The innovative tabla maestra disciple of Zakir Hussain
6:30 AM
Shakir Khan & Zakir Khan
From musical royal lineage, the Sitar Tabla duo
8:00 AM
Suhail Yusuf Khan & Henry Hodder
Meditative Sarangi /acoustic guitar duo
9:30 AM
Sougata Roy Chowdhury
NY Premier of Canada's Sarod Maestro
10:45 AM
Jay Gandhi, Abhik Mukherjee & Samarth Nagarkar
Bansuri, Sitar, Vocal Trio
12:15 PM
Ramakrishnan Murthy
Major Carnatic Vocalist and ensemble
1:30 PM
Supruli
Georgian Polyphonic Choir
2:30 PM
Kunal Gunjal & Suhail Yusuf Khan
Santoor and Sarangi duo - first ever presentation of these instruments together in the US
3:45 PM
Vicky Chow, David Cossin & Mark Stewart
Trio from the legendary ensemble Bang on a Can, performing music of Nik Bartch, Brian Eno and others.
5:00 PM
Akkarai Sisters
A stunning Carnatic Violin duo with ensemble
6:30 PM
Amir ElSaffar In E half-flat
Terry Riley wrote "In C" which launched the genre of minimalism in 1964. This will be premier of a new work created with Terry Riley's blessing for a large ensemble of microtonal maqam and raga instruments. It will be epic!

Live

Jay Gandhi (bansuri), Abhik Mukherjee (sitar), and Vivek Pandya (tabla)

Brooklyn Raga Massive’s In D ft. Terry Riley

Innov Gnawa

Broadcast

Parvathy Baul (Bengal, India)

Fareed Ayaz & Abu Muhammad Qawaal (Karachi, Pakistan)

Debashish Bhattacharya (Calcutta, India)

Prahlad Tipanya (Madhya Pradesh, India)

Amir ElSaffar Two Rivers Ensemble (Rome, Italy)

Hidayat Khan (NJ, USA)

Sanika Kulkarni (Dheli, India)

Musekiwa Chingodza (Murehwa, Zimbabwe)

Iberi Choir (Georgia/Sakartvelo)

Samarth Nagarkar (NJ, USA)

Eric Fraser (NY, USA)

Saraswathi Ranganathan (Chicago, USA)

Indrajit Bannerjee & Shank Lahiri (Texas)

Rageshri Das (Benares, India)

Kroba (NY, USA)

Roopa Panesar (Leicster, UK)

[Virtual edition]

Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Ravi Shankar Tribute 

Akshara 

Arun Ramamurthy Trio 

Dan Weiss Teen Taal Drumset Solo 

Steven Dee Harris 

Mitali Bhawmik 

Neel Murgai 

Vivek Pandya (Tabla Solo) 

Roopa Mahadevan 

Snehasish Mozumder 

Krishna Bhatt 

Jay Gandhi 

Anupam Shobhakar 

Max ZT Ensemble 

Pradhanica 

Orakel 

Adam Maalouf Feat. Josh Geisler And Shiva Ghoshal 

Deepal Chodhari 

Samarth Nagarkar 

Daisy Paradis 

Sanghamitra Chatterjee 

Steve Gorn And Eric Fraser 

Sandip Bhattacharjee 

Abhik Mukherjee