NYC Radio Live

New York's greatest music bash, the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival is returning to Astoria Queens, January 17-18, 2025.  Over 50 ensembles particiapte on several stages and dancefloors, brass bands, polyphonic choirs...Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romani, Turkish, Serbian, Greek, Persian, Klezmer, you name it... after 39 years of this festival it has evolved to become one incredible party.     In this epis...

The most mind-blowing message I ever received was from the multi Grammy winning,  ground-breaking kora master, Toumani Diabate, in 2020.  Recorded hours earlier in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa it was a live performance he made with his sons Ahmed Diabate and Balla Diabate to contribute to that year's virtual Ragas Live Festival.  "Was it ok?" He asked.   OK? It was astounding! In this special episod...

This was the second interview we conducted with Zakir Hussain, who passed away on December 15, 2024.   More than any other musician who came before him, he brought the tabla to an international stage.  His story, like the man, is legend.  I hope our conversation encourages you to dig deep into his rich catalog of astounding recordings including his own Making Music, all the Shakti albums, Planet D...

An unbelievable live performance featuring 2024 Grammy Award winner Ganesh Rajagopalan (violin) and Anantha R. Krishnan (mridangam) as broadcast on WKCR from the Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works in 2024. You can hear our conversation after the set on the previous podcast.   A virtuoso since childhood Ganesh Rajagopalan has been performing on stage since the tender age of 7 years old. He has be...

After an incredible set with Anantha R. Krishnan (mridangam)at Ragas Live Festival, we caught up with THE violin maestro, 2024 Grammy Award winner Ganesh Rajagopalan, for a quick on-air conversation about his journey in music.   A child prodigy who began performing at the age of seven, Ganesh rose to stardom performing with legends like tabla maestro Zakir Hussain and guitarist John McLaughlin of...

A memorable performance from Slowspin at the Ragas Live Festival 2024 featruing Zeerak Ahmed (vocals+electronics), Grey Mcmurray (guitar), Marlon Patton (drums) Shahzad Ismaily (bass)     This was the 9PM set on October 21st, the 4th set during 24 hours of continuous music at Pioneer Works, in Red Hook Brooklyn. US-based Pakistani artist, Slowspin (Zeerak Ahmed) has a distinct sound practice groun...

 Ud. Bashir Khan (bulbul tarang) and Ud. Feroz Khan (tabla) perform Rag Desh on 10/19/2024 at the Ragas Live Festival 2024 at Pioneer Works.  This was a very rare presentation of Raga on the Bulbul Tarang a unique instrument used more often in folk music and light classical from Pakistan and India.    The instrument was created in Japan in 1912 based on the concept of combining the mechanics of a...

7PM set of the 24 hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 10.19.24 Ragas Live Festival 2024 opened with this beautiful set: Seema Gulati (sitar) and Anirban Roy Chowdhury (Tabla).  

The grand finale of 24 hours of music at Pioneer Works! The Afghan superstars Houmayoun Sakhi (Rubab) and Salar Nader (Tabla) perform an explosive set of music.  

This is the penultimate set from the Ragas Live Festival 2024 that took place during 24 hours of continuous music at Pioneer Works October 19-20th in Red Hook, Brooklyn.   Debashish Bhattacharya Trio featuring the "world's greatest slide guitarist" Debashish Bhattacharya - Hindustani Slide Guitar and Pushpa Veena  Anandi Bhattacharya - Vocals Subashish Bhattacharya - Tabla Subscribe to hear the re...

Catching up with "the world's greatest slide guitarist" Debashish Bhattacharya and the amazing singer Anandi Bhattacharya before they take off for Ragas Live Festival 2024. 

As excitement builds for their performance this Fall at the Ragas Live Festival , we have a chat with Afghan superstars Homayoun Sakhi & Salar Nader. As the standard-bearers of Afghan traditional music, rubab master Homayoun Sakhi and tabla virtuoso Salar Nader carry the rich and varied legacy of classical compositions and folk melodies of this ancient Central Asian nation. At the heart of thi...

We get to hang with Michael Gordon, the prolific composer, co-founder/co-artistic director of Bang on a Can!  Michael Gordon’s music merges subtle rhythmic invention with incredible power embodying, in the words of The New Yorker‘s Alex Ross, “the fury of punk rock, the nervous brilliance of free jazz and the intransigence of classical modernism.” Over the course of his composing career, Gordon ha...

We hang with the great multi-instrumentalist, singer, song leader, composer and instrument designer Mark Stewart!   I'd been dreaming of doing this interview for years, and the upcoming Bang on a Can LOUD Festival (August 1-4 at Mass MoCA) was the perfect catalyst to make this finally happen.   As musical director for Paul Simon’s band, he has recorded and toured with Simon since 1998.  A founding...

Ragas Live Festival 2023 opened with this stunning sitar set from Gaurav Mazumdar—legendary disciple of Pt. Ravi Shankar—accompanied by Umesh Banerjee on the tabla. 8PM Set of the 24 Hour Ragas Live Festival at Pioneer Works 10.14.23 Ragas Live Festival is produced by Pioneer Works in collaboration with NYC Radio Live, Brooklyn Raga Massive and the Society for Arts and Culture of South Asia. We’re...

We hang with the legendary bassist of the Meters at his home in New Orleans!  George  Porter Jr.  founded  The Meters  in 1965 alongside Art Neville, Leo Nocentelli and Joseph Zigaboo Modeliste. Known as one of the progenitors of funk with Sly & The Family Stone and Parliament Funkadelic, The Meters carved their own place in history with syncopated polyrhythms and grooves inherited from New Or...

This was a meeting of musical royalty from Mauritania, vocalist Noura Mint Seymali, with her husband  Jeiche Ould Chighaly on fretless electric guitar collaborating for the first time with Brooklyn Raga Massive’s Jay Gandhi (bansuri flute) and Ehren Hanson (tabla). It was a spontaneous and beautiful meeting of two musical worlds, broadcast live at WKCR and very much inspired our whole Africa/India...

Derek Gripper has miraculously discovered the ability to bring the dazzling polyrhythmic music of the West African Harp, the Kora, onto the classical guitar. Egberto Gismonti, Bach and Keith Jarrett are all elements of his musical DNA. We hang with Derek and he treats us to some live performances and stories of how he happened upon discovering this new world of music for the guitar.    Derek Gripp...

In this incredible episode we capture Innov Gnawa performing the "Sebatayin" repetoire, Gnawa music performed traditionally in Morrocco for the Jewish Community.  They performed this for the end of Passover at Greenwich House Music School as part of the UNCHARTED concert series. The Jewish presence in Morocco dates back to over 2,500 years ago and upon interaction with the gnawa community, a bond...

The mindblowing Zlatne Ustne Goldenfest is returning this May 10-11, 2024  in a new home Astoria Queens!  Here's a classic episode recorded during the 2019 festivalDuring the epic annual Zlatne Ustne Goldenfest , the crowd was worked into a frenzy by a rollicking set by LITVAKUS, Zisl Slepovich's klezmer band.  We get a chance to hang backstage with the maestro and renaissance man, Zisl Slepovich....

In anticipation of the Ragas Live Festival 2023 coming October 14-15 to Pioneer Works, we will be broadcasting this amazing set from 2022 featuring Kane Mathis on Kora and Roshni Samlal on Tabla.  Kane Mathis, a man of many talents, also mixed and mastered this and all the recordings from Ragas Live Festival 2022.    The radio broadcast will be at WKCR 89.9 FM-NY ( www.wkcr.org ) at 7PM on August...

In anticipation of the Ragas Live Festival 2023 coming October 14-15 to Pioneer Works, we will be broadcasting this amazing set from 2022 featuring Saraswathi Ranganathan on veena and Sriram Raman on Mridangam The radio broadcast will be at WKCR 89.9 FM-NY ( www.wkcr.org ) at 7PM on August 6, or you can enjoy here on the NYC Radio Live Podcast.   Tix and info for Ragas Live Festival are available...

We connect with Musekiwa Chingdoza from Zimbabwe for the Ragas Live Festival 

Bansuri maestro Eric Fraser with Mir Naqibol Islam on tabla at the 2021 Ragas Live Festival.    

Hamid Al-Saadi with Safaafir Hamid Al-Saadi - vocal Amir ElSaffar - santur and vocal Dena El Saffar - joza, violin, and vocal Tim Moore - percussion George Ziadeh - oud Zahra Zubaidi - vocal Zahra Ali - vocal Omar Dewachi    Subscribe to NYC Radio Live to enjoy the full festival.