NYC Radio Live

Samir Chaterjee, Dan Weiss, tabla duo accompanied by Arun Ramamurthy             Samir Chaterjee and Dan Weiss performed a tabla duo while Arun Ramamurthy kept time on the violin.  You can hear both improvisations and compositions within this rhythmic tour-de-force. This was the third performance in the 24 hour ragas live festival.  Samir Chatterjee  was not only a performer on this year's festiva...

Kanika Pandey, (Vocals) Arun Ramamurthy (Violin) Samir Chaterjee (tabla) The second set of the Ragas Live Festival 2013 featured vocalist Kanika Pandey. Kanika belongs to the new generation of musicians who believe in developing and evolving a personalized musical idiom while still maintaining the authenticity of the Hindustani classical music.  Kanika has a rich and mellifluous voice and a very e...

  The 2013 Ragas Live Festival, was 24 hours of raga performed live in the studio by over 50 world class artists.  It was  broadcast throughout New York City WKCR 89.9 FM-NY and worldwide at www.wkcr.org.   The first set was a beautiful jam session by members of the Brooklyn Raga Massive, represented by Max ZT (hammered dulcimer), Eric Faser (bansuri), Camila Celin (guitar) , Sameer Gupta (tabla)...

This episode came from a WKCR broadcast a year after the passing of  the master drummer Frisner Augustin whoose Troupe Makandal has brought Vodou ceremonial drumming to the world. It features a recent live performance from La Troupe Makandal recorded at the Afro-Roots Series at the Space at 9 Bleecker. Guests Morgan Zwerlein from Troupe Makandal and producer of the Afro-Roots series and good frien...

Hugh Masekela is the most well known jazz musician from Africa.  His first big hit was in 1968 and he has sold millions of albums, won multiple Grammys and worked with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Dizzy Gillespie. Fresh off a tour with Paul Simon, he and his band are super-refined, with perfect vocal harmonies, deep grooves, and inspired improvisations.    Masekela is considered a legend of Sout...

As the world's eyes turn to her hometown of Timbuktu, Awa Sangho, the golden voice of Mali,  visits NYC Radio Live.   Awa, who learned song-craft from Ali Farka Toure, has since toured the world with a who's who of African Music:  Salif Keita, Manu Dibango, Amadou and Mariam, Habibe Koite, Cheick Tidiane Seck,  Marc Cary, Bassekou Kouyate and Oumou Sangare. Her exquisite new album, yet to be relea...

  To celebrate the release of their new album Shruggy Ji, (currently #1 on iTunes World Music Chart) NYC Rado Live is going back to the archives to share a 2009 live radio performance by Red Baraat. Red Baraat is the first and only dhol ‘n’ brass band of its kind in the States, melding the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with brass funk and expressing the human spirit through improvisation...

  This is not your grandmother's Gamelan.  Gamelan are the mesmerizing orchestras of giant gongs and other metal percussion instruments from Indonesia.   Taylor Kuffner's  Gameletron project combines the instruments of the Gamelan with robotics, creating an incredible immersive experience.    He came to WKCR to share his own recordings he made throughout Indonesia highlighting rarities in the genr...

Podcast: Download on iTunes Grammy Nominated, BBC Award winner Pandit Debashish Bhattacharya is widely recognized as one of the worlds greatest guitarists. A prodigy, he first performed on-All India Radio at the age of 4. He has since amazed audiences worldwide performing with such luminaries as John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Jerry Douglas and Dereck Trucks.  NYC Radio Live, Bread and Yoga, Rages...

Guitarist Rez Abbasi brought his burning new trio of John Hebert on the bass and Satoshi Takeishi on the drums to WKCR before their new album -Continuous Beat- is released on November. Here's his words on the trio: “I wanted to excite the listener with a new guitar trio experience. One that retains the warmth of the established trio sound but also employs electronics in order to expand the timbral...

Oumar Konate performs live at the WKCR studio joined by guitarist Dramane Toure, bassist Mohamed Ag Mohamed, and percussionist Mahalmadane Abbanassane.  We were lucky to catch these gentlemen on their way to perform at Lincoln Center.  Earlier in the summer they had been touring and recording  with Tibuktu's Khaira Arby, the "Nightingale of the North." Like Abdoulaye Alhassane of Podcast 49, Oumar...

Indian Classical vocalist Manoj Govindraj sings 2 compositions based on Raag Megh, accompanied by Swarup Swaminathan on harmonium and Sai Shyam Mohan on tabla. Here's what Manoj says about the performance: "Raag Megh -also called Megh Malhar- is a seasonal Raag, sung typically during the rainy season. That's the reason why the compositions which are based on this raag are worded according to the r...

  Abdoulaye Alhassane performs live with Deep Sahara at WKCR in 2010.  w/ Yacouba Diabate (Kora) Frederika Krier (Violin) and David Ellenbogen (guitar) By Banning Eyre | April, 2007 [guitar player mg] Abdoulaye Alhassane Toure has brought string-picking wizardry from the desert towns of West Africa to the nightclubs of New York City. Born in 1963, in Niamey, Niger, to a Sonrai family from Gao, Mal...

Tomchess (Oud) and Shane Shanahan (Frame Drums and Percussion) performed live at WKCR on Sunday July 15, 2012. Tomchess is a Multi-instrumentalist/Improviser/Composer. He plays Reeds, Western Flute, Arabic/Turkish Ney flute, Oud, and Guitar. He also has a history of using electronics /sampling/live-sampling/loops/fx. He has performed with Drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson' Decoding Society, Butch Mor...

Kiran Ahluwalia (vocals),  Rez Abbasi (guitar), Nitin Mitta (tabla). Ragas Live Festival #24 11 pm-12 am during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival. Expressing her muse through ghazals and Punjabi folk songs, Kiran Ahluwalia explores the language of the heart with beautiful artistry and smoldering intensity. Born in India, raised in Canada, and now living in New York City, her enchanting and seductive...

Arun Ramamurthy (violin),  Akshay Anantapadmanabhan (mridangam), Nitin Mitta (tabla). Ragas Live Festival # 23 8-9 pm during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival. Arun Ramamurthy is a gifted violinist who is making his mark in Indian Classical and World music in the United States. Disciple of Dr. Mysore Manjunath & Sri Mysore Nagaraj, he has become one of the most sought after violinists in the US.  Ar...

Vivek Rudrapatna (violin),  Sriram Raman (mridangam). Ragas Live Festival # 22 5-6 pm during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival. Vivek Rudrapatna is a seasoned Indian Classical violinist who has played a central role in the Indian Classical music circles of the tristate area and New England for over 10 years.  He began study of the violin under Ms. Jennifer Curran, a passionate music teacher in the N...

Shanti Shivani (vocal),  Peter Fagiola  (pakhavaj). Ragas Live Festival # 21 11 am-12 pm during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival. Shanti Shivani is one of the few Western pioneers bringing the sacred traditions of Nada Yoga and Dhrupad, the most ancient style of Hindustani classical music, to the West. She brings a wealth of vocal, meditative, movement and experience to her classes and performances...

Samarth Nagarkar (vocal),  Anirban Roy Chowdury (tabla), Andrew Shantz (harmonium). Ragas Live Festival # 20 8-9 am during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival. Samarth Nagarkar, a hindustani classical (North Indian classical) vocalist, is a disciple of Pandit Ulhas Kashalkar and Pandit Dinkar Kaikini. A former scholar of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy, Kolkata, he was head of the K. K. Kapoor Sangee...

Oded Tzur (saxophone),  Naren Budhakar (tabla). Ragas Live Festival # 19 10-11 pm during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival. Saxophonist Oded Tzur is rapidly gaining international acclaim for his groundbreaking musical work. He is considered by many to be the first saxophonist in the world to have developed a complete method for performing North Indian Classical Music on the saxophone, single-handedly...

Eric Fraser (Bansuri Flute),  Naren Budhakar (Tabla). Ragas Live Festival # 18 9-10 am during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival performing  Raga Nat Bhairav   Eric Fraser (bansuri flute) is an exponent of a unique “vocal” style of North-Indian flute playing.  A disciple of Pandit Gopal Roy, Eric’s flute playing tells the story of his “gharana” (lineage).  With it’s depth, strong distinct tone and vi...

Amali Preemawardana (Cello),  Trina Basu (Violin),   Perry Wortman (Bass), Sameer Gupta (Tabla). Ragas Live Festival # 17 1-2pm during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival Karavika draws from the rich classical & folk traditions of India, Europe and North America. Their debut album, Sunrise, features original music inspired by the rhythmic complexities of Indian Classical music as well as collaborative...

Jay Gandhi (Bansuri)  Nitin Mitta (Tabla)  Ragas Live Festival # 16 6-7pm during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival performing Raag Puriya Kalyan in Jhaptaal & Teeentaal followed by a Pahadi Dhun An outstanding disciple of the world renowned bansuri maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia, Jay is an avid performer with a remarkable artistic maturity and depth. With performances spanning the globe, he has...

Indrajit Roy Chowdhury (Sitar) and Sanjay Ranjan Pal (Tabla) Performed 6-7am during our 24 hour Ragas Live Festival Indrajit Roy-Chowdhury is a disciple of the sitar maestro Pandit Subroto Roy-Chowdhury.  Groomed in the Veen-kar style of the Senia Gharana, which maintains the Dhrupadi origins of Indian Classical music, Indrajit strives to innovate while keeping a firm connection with the past.  Wh...

3 am - 4 am from our Ragas Live Festival. Ustad Ikhlaq Hussain Khan is a virtuoso sitarist from a centuries-long line of influential musicians of the Delhi Gharana, dating back to the very creator of the instruments 'sitar' and 'tabla' in the early 13th century, Sufi Saint Hazrat Amir Khusrao. While his lineage is known for their proliferative work in the field of tabla and rhythmic expression/com...