Neel Murgai Ensemble

With their unique raga-meets-chamber-jazz sound, the Neel Murgai Ensemble celebrates the worldwide release of their new album, reorientation. Neel’s older compositions for the ensemble, rooted in Indian classical music, represent the backbone of the album. His recent solo overtone singing and looping pieces, ethereal and psychedelic explorations, exist in dialogue with the older music and his older self, providing reorientation for heart and mind. This performance features solo and ensemble compositions from the album, amid the group’s signature improvisational dialogue.

Featuring:

Neel Murgai:sitar, vocals

Trina Basu: violin

Arun Rammurthy: violin

Marika Hughes: cello

Sameer Gupta: tabla

The concert is presented with Brooklyn Raga Massive, an artist collective dedicated to creating cross-cultural understanding through the lens of Indian classical and Raga inspired music.

About the Musician

Neel Murgai is a sitarist, overtone singer, composer, and teacher. He earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College, while learning sitar with Pundit Krishna Bhatt and overtone singing with Timothy Hill. He has composed music for the feature films A Decent Arrangement and Yes Men Fix the World. The Neel Murgai Ensemble began 10 years ago with a release on Innova Records and has performed at Ragas Live Festival, Sinaloa Cultural Festival in Mexico, Pioneer Works, Museum of Natural History, Vassar College, Greenwich Music House, Le Poisson Rouge, and more.

About Brooklyn Raga Massive

Praised by the Wall Street Journal for “expanding the notion of what raga—the immersive, epic form of Indian music—can mean” and dubbed the “leaders of the raga renaissance” by the New Yorker, the fun-loving members of the Brooklyn Raga Massive collective have made huge waves for “preserving the past while blurring genres in an inventive spirit” (New York Times). Brooklyn Raga Massive is dedicated to education, engaging in workshops, in-school programs, private teaching, and various community activities to share their love for music.