NYC Radio Live

We get to have a conversation with the great singer and songwriter Martha Redbone.  She'll be collaborating this Friday April 13, 2018 with Brooklyn Raga Massive,as part of the Outside (In)dia Series produced by India Center Foundation, Brooklyn Raga Massive and Lincoln Center.  

Saxophonist Aakash Mittal draws his inspiration from a plethora of sources.  We sit down and talk with him in anticiaption of Aawaz trio show March 11 at National Sawdust.  We'll also hear his live set from 2017s Ragas Live Festival at Rubin Museum of Art with Rez Abassi on Guitar and Alex Ritz on Drums.

An intimate conversation with Randy Weston at his home in Brooklyn in 2010.  The master jazz musician tells tales of his times with Charlie Parker, Max Roach, Fela Kuti and countless legends.  Among many accomplishments, Mr. Weston is responsible for bringing gnawa music to a much larger audience, so we thought we'd share this interview before we host Innov Gnawa at a concert at the Mercy Home in Brooklyn this Wednesday.  Tickets for that concert 2/28/18 are available here on the airbnb platform

In anticipation of his album release Feb 16 at Littlefield, the tabla/drumset maverick came to WKCR and shared some exclusive live tracks.  
 
 

We get to hang at home with Simon Shaheen!  He performs live on the oud and shares a few live performances.  We also had an in-depth discussion about maqam and the history of Arabic Music.  

I just got word that the great Hugh Masekela passed away.  This week we revisit a 2013 interview with him.
Hugh Masekela is the most well known jazz musician from Africa.  His first big hit was in 1968 and he has sold millions of albums, won multiple Grammys and worked with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Dizzy Gillespie. Fresh off a tour with Paul Simon, he and his band are super-refined, with perfect vocal harmonies, deep grooves, and inspired improvisations.    Masekela is considered a legend of South African Music and the apartheid struggle, but that's not how he see's it.
I got to spend sometime backstage with him and now so do you!
 
Here's one quote from the interview:
"I never had a career, I had an obsession with music.  And my obsession with it, and maybe a little gift that I had, threw me into the area, but my aim, even when I came overseas, was to learn and to study and everything else is a coincidence.  But I didn't plan to make it for myself.   If you look at anybody who is out there to make it for themselves they self-destruct.  They become very big and then they self-destruct. As long as you've got the "me" thing in your head you're doomed." - Hugh Masekela
 

Bakithi Kumalo is a four time Grammy Winning bassist who came to the world's attention on Paul Simon's Graceland Album.  We hang with him and here one of his new tracks.  

Hatim Belyamani returns with a new version of www.remix-culture.org and shares recordings he made in Brazil and China.
 
 

Recored and broadcast live at the Ragas Live Festival 2017 from the Rubin Museum of Art, we hear the world premier of the new project:  Recalling the Valley. 
Jay Gandhi (bansuri) and Max ZT's (hammered dulcimer) pay tribute to their world-renowned teachers, Shivkumar Sharma and Hariprasad Chaurasia.  With Ehren Hanson on tabla they will perform music inspired by their gurus’ beloved album, “Call of the Valley.”  
They also have a great discussion with Andrew Shantz on the topic of creating art away from its place of origin.  
Ragas Live Festival supported by the Rubin Museum of Art, WKCR and Humanities New York.  

This is a remaster of a broadcast I did in 2012 when I had just returned from almost a month in Mali making field and studio recordings. Very special stuff: Here's the original intro: I'm back from the Sahara, and, as promised, have a ton of recordings to share with you.  This special show was originally broadcast on WKCR on 89.9 FM-NY and features rough mixes of studio recordings with up and coming guitarist and pop star Oumar Konate, Griot Royalty Noura Mint Seymali from Mauritania recording exclusively for us in her flat in Timbuktu, artists from Niger informally jamming in their tents and the Festival Au Desert and much, much more. We'll hear this Takamba band in the photo above- they use a car battery and a PA and the flute ends up sounding just like Jimi Hendrix...  

Hailing from Cameroon, but living now in France, singer and multi-instrumentalist,  Blick Bassy is creating a fresh, new sound with stunning vocals, banjo and luscious soundscapes from his bandmates.  His new album, Akö with his comrades Clément Petit on cello and Johan Blanc on trombone, are raising eyebrows with their totally original tribute to Skip James.    Blick sings in his native tongue,  Bassa, one of very few.  We caught up with Blick Bassy and hung backstage after an incredible show at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium.

This week we revisit a classic interview with Hugh Masekela from 2013.
Hugh Masekela is the most well known jazz musician from Africa.  His first big hit was in 1968 and he has sold millions of albums, won multiple Grammys and worked with everyone from Stevie Wonder to Dizzy Gillespie. Fresh off a tour with Paul Simon, he and his band are super-refined, with perfect vocal harmonies, deep grooves, and inspired improvisations.    Masekela is considered a legend of South African Music and the apartheid struggle, but that's not how he see's it.
I got to spend sometime backstage with him and now so do you!
 
Here's one quote from the interview:
"I never had a career, I had an obsession with music.  And my obsession with it, and maybe a little gift that I had, threw me into the area, but my aim, even when I came overseas, was to learn and to study and everything else is a coincidence.  But I didn't plan to make it for myself.   If you look at anybody who is out there to make it for themselves they self-destruct.  They become very big and then they self-destruct. As long as you've got the "me" thing in your head you're doomed." - Hugh Masekela

Walter Becker, co-founder of Steely Dan, passed away this week. Today, I went digging through my archives and found  a 2010 interview we recorded upon the release of Roger Rosenberg's Baritonality, an album Becker produced.  I found it and wanted to share it immediately.  Walter's open spirit, humility, and excitement about the big and small things around music all come through.  We'll listen to some excerpts from that album and share the complete free wheeling conversation with jazz critic, John Coltelli, myself and the great Walter Becker.

Samarth Nagarkar (vocal), Meghashyam Keshav (tabla), Rohan Prabhudesai (harmonium) perform a 6AM set at the Ragas Live Festival 2016.
This year’s festival is October 21st 2017 at the Rubin Museum of Art. Samarth will perform at 10pm.
Tickets here