Last Updated on October 3, 2025
Pioneer Works presents the 14th annual Ragas Live Festival featuring 24 hours of transcendent music in the Pioneer Works Main Hall. The entire program will be broadcast live, with video streaming at Pioneer Works’ YouTube and audio airing on WKCR 89.9 FM in NYC.
Legendary maestros of the South Asian classical tradition will perform alongside groundbreaking contemporary artists in a musical journey through day and night. More than 50 artists will perform for 24 continuous hours, featuring some of the greatest living sitar players (Shahid Parvez, Purbayan Chatterjee), ecstatic Qawwali musicians, a Zakir Hussain Tribute led by his Grammy-winning collaborators Sikiru Adepoju and V. Selvaganesh, the jaw-dropping violin virtuosity of Charumathi Raghuraman, and the exploratory electronics of Eucademix (Yuka Honda).
Two surprise headlining acts will be announced several weeks before the festival.
The 2025 Artist Lineup:
October 18
7:00 PM ARAJ: Ishaan Ghosh, S. Akash, Mehtab Ali, Pratik Singh & Vanraj Shastri ( tabla, bansuri, sitar, vocals, sarangi)
8:25 PM Charumathi Raghuraman, Anantha R. Krishnan & Giridhar Udupa (violin, mridangam, ghatam)
9:50 PM Eucademix (Yuka Honda) (electronics)
10:30 PM Surprise Artist to be announced 10/5 (Qawwali)
October 19
12:00 AM Light over Shadow (Zakir Hussein Tribute): Sikiru Adepoju, Selvaganesh, Ishaan Ghosh and special guests (global percussion)
1:30 AM Asif Khan, Karamat Khan, Bashir Khan & Vanraj Shastri (vocal, tabla, bulbul tarang, sarangi) (Ghazal set)
2:30 AM Arun Ramamurthy Trio – (Arun Ramamurthy, violin; Sameer Gupta, drums; Damon Banks, bass)
3:45 AM Surprise Artist to be announced 10/5
5:15 AM Vishnu Ramprasad, navtar
6:30 AM Radhika Samson & Tejas Tope, (surbahar, pakawaj)
7:45-8:45 AM Whispering Worlds w/ Aaron Shragge (John Hassell Tribute) (Aaron Shragge -trumpet/shakuhachi/fx/composition; Luke Schwartz, guitar; Damon Banks, bass; Deric Dickens, drums)
9:00 AM Vinay Desai & Vivek Pandaya (santoor, tabla)
10:15 AM Purbayan Chatterjee & Amit Kavthekar (sitar. tabla)
11:45 AM Surprise Artist to be announced 10/5
12:45 PM Mandolin U. Rajesh & Swaminathan Selvaganesh (mandolin, kanjira)
2:15 PM Priya Purushothaman. Pratyush Goberdha & Tejas Tope (vocal, sarangi, tabla)
3:15 PM Anand Avirmed – (Mongolian throat singing & horsehead fiddle)
4:00 PM Surprise Artist to be announced 9/27 (E. violin, percussion)
5:35 PM Shahid Parvez & Nitin Mitta (sitar, tabla)
About Ragas Live Festival
Ragas Live Festival was born as an in-studio radio broadcast at Columbia University’s radio station, WKCR, in 2012 and immediately gained a global listening audience. The annual presentation of 50-70 musicians, and its expansive presentation of music inspired by the Indian classical tradition, became central to a musical movement that The New York Times, The New Yorker, NPR, and others have called “The Raga Renaissance.” The event first left the studio and became a live, in-person broadcast in 2016 at Pioneer Works, where it has since grown a passionate following.
The event is inspired by raga, the classical music tradition from South Asia, where specific modes harmonize with the moods and energy of particular times of day, such as sunrise, sunset, or the darkest hours of the night. Master musicians from the raga tradition are presented alongside legends in ambient music, minimalism, jazz, and global traditions.
