BROOKLYN RAGA MASSIVE: TRADITION TO INNOVATION

We’d love to see your moments! Share your experience on Instagram & tag us @kupferbergcenter! 

SAT, MAR 15, 2025, 8 PM at LEFRAK CONCERT HALL

ABOUT BROOKLYN RAGA MASSIVE

Brooklyn Raga Massive is an adventurous nonprofit musicians’ collective that creates cross-cultural understanding through the lens of South Asian classical music by providing direct support to artists, fostering collaboration through our iconic concerts and 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, cultivating a vibrant community of diverse musicians and music lovers. 

In keeping with the inclusive spirit of these jam sessions, our collective became an official 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2015, created by musicians, for musicians. Composed of 100+ collaborating artists rooted in South Asian classical music, the collective has since grown to encompass many genres and traditions from around the world. 

Brooklyn Raga Massive’s original ensembles have performed across the country 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. Through the curation of our signature series, festivals, and educational programs, we have brought raga into conversation with musical traditions coming from Iraq, Cuba, Morocco, Japan and more.This practice of cross-cultural collaboration both reflects the current global landscape and enables BRM to serve as an incubator of expansive, innovative, new genres of music indigenous to Brooklyn.

Mir Naqibul Islam, tabla

An avid student of Tabla, Mir has trained in the traditional guru-shisya style of Indian Classical music from Pt. Ashoke Paul, disciple of the great tabla guru Pt. Jnan Prakash Ghosh. Now living and working in New York city, he performs regularly with musicians from a wide variety of other genres, bringing tabla to Jazz, Middle-Eastern music and other contexts. By listening, learning and playing with musicians from around the globe, Mir is developing a unique musical aesthetic bringing together the musical influences of traditional Farukhabad style tabla and 21st century New York. Mir has studied with Pt. Gopal Mishra and Pt. Suresh Talwalkar in past and continuing his talim with the great Farukhabad Mastero Pt Anindo Chatterjee and Pt. Ashoke Paul.

Aaron Shragge, trumpet, shakuhachi

Aaron has performed with Daniel Carter, Ben Monder, Dave Douglas, William Parker, Jon Gibson, The Sam Roberts Band, Akim Funk Buddha, and Medeski Martin and Wood’s Billy Martin at such venues as Symphony Space, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center and The Blue Note. Aaron is active in the NYC improvised/creative music having served on the board of Festival of New Trumpet Music NY/Canada and regularly performs with Brooklyn Raga Massive. Aaron’s unique instrument was designed to expand the trumpet’s melodic capacity by integrating both a slide/valves and is the result of over a decade of studying both the Shakuhachi (Japanese Flute) as well as North Indian Vocals. 

Kane Mathis, oud, kora

Performing on the 21-string Mandinka Harp and the Turkish Oud, Kane Mathis renders compelling interpretations of these traditional musics. Years of study with generous masters have given Kane a rare opportunity to share these traditions with other cultures. Kane is a sought after as a soloist and accompanist internationally on both instruments. As a composer Kane is generating new works for both instruments as well as experimental work for electronic fixed media for film and modern dance. Kane is the recipient of many grants including a Chamber Music America award as well as an Earshot Jazz “Album of The Year Award”.

Neel Murgai, sitar, overtone singing

Neel Murgai is a sitarist, overtone singer, daf player, composer and teacher from Brooklyn, NY. He is the Artistic Director of the South Asian music collective, Brooklyn Raga Massive. Neel has studied sitar for 27 years with Pundit Krishna Bhatt. Overtone singing Neel learned from Batuvshin of the Buriyat performance group Uragsha and from Timothy Hill of the Harmonic Choir. He is a graduate of Goddard College’s MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program.Neel has worked with numerous artists from varying disciplines including, Bill T. Jones, Cyndi Lauper, Wyclef Jean, Andre DeShields, Tyler Swift, Karsh Kale, Rosanne Cash and Vijay Iyer. Neel has also composed music for many film and TV projects including the features, “The Yes Men Fix the World”, which premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and “A Decent Arrangement” starring Shabana Azmi.

Arun Ramamurthy, violin

Arun Ramamurthy is a multifaceted violinist, composer and educator based in Brooklyn, NY, and is a disciple of the celebrated Carnatic violinist brothers, Sri Mysore Nagaraj & Dr. Mysore Manjunath and the esteemed violinist Sri Ananthakrishnan. He is a versatile artist, performing internationally in both traditional Carnatic and Hindustani settings as well as bridging genres with his own innovative projects like the acclaimed Arun Ramamurthy Trio. Arun is a recipient of Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works commission, premiering the new original works in 2022. Arun has shared stages with luminaries like Dr. M. Balamurali Krishna, Sudha Ragunathan, Subhankar Banerjee, Reggie Workman, Kenny Werner, Jamey Haddad, Amir ElSaffar among others. Arun’s music has brought him prestigious stages like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, Celebrate Brooklyn and more. Arun is a co-founder of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a collective of forward thinking musicians rooted-in and inspired-by the classical music of India. He also created the popular concert series.

Damon Banks, electric bass

Damon Banks has performed with and / or recorded with some of the music industry’s brightest stars, creative artists and innovative musicians.These artists include: George Benson, Peter Gabriel, Chico Hamilton, Arto Lindsay, The Neville Brothers, Loose Ends, Ronny Jordan, Eileen Ivers, Karsh Kale, “Wadada” Leo Smith, KRS-ONE, Marc Ribot, “Butch” Morris, Bobby Womack, Brooklyn Raga Massive, Adam Rudolph, CJ Chenier, Ntozake Shange, Yungchen llamo, – and currently Violinist Arun Ramamurthy. In addition to playing, composing, and producing Damon is an international educator & teaching artist that has led and/or facilitated workshops and masterclasses at Bard College, Cal Arts. Medger Evers College and Wesleyan University.