New York: This Sunday, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts, located on the LIU Post Campus in Brookville, is presenting Brooklyn Raga Massive, an adventurous musicians’ collective that creates cross-cultural understanding through the lens of South Asian classical music.
The ensemble namely ‘Tradition to Innovation’, will perform in Tilles Center’s intimate Krasnoff Theater and features musicians Neel Murgai (sitar), Arun Ramamurthy (violin), Damon Banks (electric bass), Aaron Shragge (trumpet, shakuhachi), Mir Naqibul Islam (tabla), and Kane Mathis (oud, kora).
The musical journey will begin with pure classical ragas from India and travel towards contemporary adaptations in America. While standing on the shoulders of giants like Ravi Shankar and John Coltrane, the ensemble will present their original visions of raga music, reflective of their experiences with communities and cultures from across the world.
The nonprofit Brooklyn Raga Massive aims to enrich and strengthen the raga-inspired musical ecosystem in New York City and across the country by providing direct support to artists, fostering collaboration through jam sessions, facilitating cultural exchange through educational initiatives, and producing transcendent, and often massive, performances, festivals, and one-of-a-kind albums.
The idea of Brooklyn Raga Massive was born in 2012 during a weekly concert and jam session at a local Prospect Heights venue. What began as a casual series, flourished and grew into a mainstay of the New York City arts scene.
Brooklyn Raga Massive original ensembles have performed at venues such as Lincoln Center, Fotografiska NY, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Pioneer Works, The Rubin Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Kennedy Center, and more.
Tickets start at $25 and are available at 516.299.3100 or tillescenter.org.
