WOMEN’S VOICES
Kala Ramnath with Brooklyn Raga Massive
Co-curated and promoted in partnership with Brooklyn Raga Massive
May 16, 2024
Thursday, 8 PM
Kaufman Music Center – 129 W 67th Street., Manhattan
Doors: 7:30 PM | Show: 8 PM
$35 | $45 | $55
Maestra Kala Ramnath with her ‘Singing Violin,’ has been featured on the GRAMMY-nominated Miles from India project, and compositions of hers have appeared on the GRAMMY-winning album In 27 Pieces and the Kronos Quartet’s 50 For The Future. She was awarded the illustrious Sangeet Natak Akademi Puraskar for her contributions to the violin in Hindustani Classical Music. Born into a dynasty of prodigious musical talent, Kala’s violinistic vision began manifesting early. She became a pre-eminent disciple of the legendary vocalist Pandit Jasraj. During this mentorship, Kala began revolutionizing approaches to vocalized Hindustani violin technique, becoming dubbed ‘Singing Violin’. Kala has appeared on world stages including the Sydney Opera House, Paris’ Théâtre de la Ville, London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, San Francisco’s Palace of Fine Arts, Singapore’s Esplanade, New York’s Carnegie Hall, the Rudolstadt Festival in Germany and the Edinburgh Music Festival in Scotland. Kala comfortably forges musical alliances with artists of renown from different genres around the globe incorporating elements of Western Classical, Jazz, Flamenco and traditional African music into her rich and varied repertoire. Today, Kala is keen to enrich the lives of under-privileged children through music in the form of her foundation, ‘Kalashree.’ Kala Ramnath will perform with long time musical companion Abhijit Banerjee on tabla.
Multifaceted violinist, composer, and educator Arun Ramamurthy’s music is rooted in South Indian classical “raga” music with influences of both Carnatic and Hindustani traditions. He will perform an opening set with Sandhi Trio, a genre-blurring innovative trio featuring master kora player Yacouba Sissoko, and Carnatic kanjira virtuoso Swaminathan Selvaganesh.
The WOMEN’S VOICES series celebrates the role that female artists play in the preservation and promotion of their respective cultures and traditions.