Événement

Brooklyn Raga Massive performs Terry Riley's "In C"

$15 in advance, $20 at the door.

Brooklyn Raga Massive is a collective of musicians and music lovers rooted in Indian classical music. They have presented a weekly concert series and jam session for almost 3 years, currently at Studio 487 in Gowanus, Brooklyn. While devoted to Indian classical music, they easily mix it up with musicians of many backgrounds. A typical BRM Jam Session night will feature sitar, sarod, bansuri and tabla alongside violin, guitar, bass, saxophone, kora, mbira, daf and more. BRM musicians are of the highest calibre and have performed at concerts and festivals around the world.

Indian classical music is usually a soloistic, lonely affair. Hindustani ensembles rarely number more than 3 or 4 and usually it is just 2 (melody and percussion). As BRM's community grew past critical mass, BRM co-founder Neel Murgai was excited about the possibility of creating a super group of musicians, the Brooklyn Raga Massive All Stars: an orchestra with sitar, sarod, bansuri, violin, dilruba, harmonium, tabla, vocals, violin, cello, bass, guitar, vibes and more. He realized that Terry Riley's seminal minimalist composition "In C" would be a special way to achieve that.

A work that is written for any number of any kind of instrument, "In C" consists of 53 small cells of music and a set of directions that allow each performer to move through the music at their own pace. Terry Riley himself was very influenced by Indian classical music and has practiced Hindustani vocal for years. BRM's performances of his ground breaking work, with 16-20+ musicians and the first featuring so many Indian instruments, throw a new twist on the allure of "In C" and establish new connections between minimalism, Western classical and Indian classical music. Terry was not the only minimalist composer to be influenced by the drone and repetition of Indian music. We are taking it back, as we expand upon the piece with Indian embellishment, improvisation and driving tabla rhythms. Terry Riley himself encouraged BRM to "use the basic IN C form but open it up to solos by individual members based on some of the patterns." Every performance is different and BRM looks forward to expanding upon the piece in new ways each time out.