The Resonance Series
Arun Ramamurthy Bio
Arun has shared the stage with luminaries like Dr. M. Balamuralikrishna, Sudha Ragunathan, Reggie Workman, Kenny Werner, Jamey Haddad, Flute Shashank, Amir ElSaffar, Hamid Drake, Mashkoor Ali Khan, Adam Rudolph, Hamid Al-Saadi, Subhankar Banerjee, Martha Redbone, and Awa Sangho amongst others. He has performed and recorded with a wide range of musical genres including jazz, Arabic Maqam, Afro-Cuban, Japanese traditional, Balinese gamelan, Malian, American folk, Western classical, and other creative and improvisational styles. Arun’s music has brought him to prestigious stages like Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Bimhuis (Amsterdam), NYU Abu Dhabi Performing Arts, Summerstage NYC and many more.
As a composer, Arun has created new works for his group Arun Ramamurthy Trio (ART), scores for theatrical productions such as Tom Stoppard’s Indian Ink, composition for Indian classical dance, and for the pioneering musician’s collective Brooklyn Raga Massive. Arun was commissioned by Chamber Music America’s New Jazz Works to create his “New Moon Suite” for ART, and by New Music USA to compose “Appeasing Radhika”, a multidisciplinary project with bharatanatyam dancer Malini Srinivasan.
Arun is a Founder and co-Artistic Director of Brooklyn Raga Massive, a progressive genre-bending collective of musicians rooted-in and inspired-by the classical music of India. He also created and produced the innovative series Carnatic Sundays at the iconic West Village haunt, Cornelia Street Cafe. Throughout his career, Arun has curated and performed in hundreds of concerts bringing together music from all over the world.
Arun also is a dedicated educator, teaching Carnatic music privately to children and adult students, professional string players, and instrumentalists from various genres. He conducts workshops and has held teaching-artist residencies working with student ensembles at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Brooklyn College’s Jazz & Big Band program, California Jazz Conservatory, NYU, Yale University, Sarah Lawrence University, and many others.
2024 Series
Sid Sriram & The Arun Ramamurthy Trio - Sept. 17
For Sid Sriram, there is a quality inherent in the Carnatic music of South India that he describes as “universal truth.” The 32-year-old singer/songwriter has spent years imparting this truth to audiences in India and across the world; today, he ranks as one of the most popular Bollywood singers of the past decade. On his new English-language album Sidharth, however, he departs from the musical lineage of his family’s home country, where he has lived since 2015, and draws on the R&B, indie rock, and American pop styles he grew up with as an immigrant kid in Fremont, CA, in the ’90s and 2000s. Through doing so, he hoped to find a way to communicate “truth” in music through deeper personal exploration.
Arun Ramamurthy Trio (ART) brings together South Indian classical Carnatic music and contemporary jazz. Boundaries are blurred in this organic and seamless integration of styles as the group expands on traditional forms in explosive, improvisational flights of fancy. The trio freely explores the kindred spirit of raga music and jazz, resulting in a deeply invigorating and spiritual experience. ART’s collaborative sound is driven by the dynamic rhythm section of drummer Sameer Gupta & and electric bassist Damon Banks.
Photo by Kiki Vassilakis from the September 17 show at The Egg
Abdullah Ibrahim Trio & The Sandhi Trio - Nov. 17
Abdullah Ibrahim is South Africa’s most distinguished pianist and a world-respected master musician. Born in 1934 in Cape Town, Dollar Brand, as he became known, was exposed to a melting pot of cultural influences: African Khoi-san songs, Christian hymns, gospel tunes and spirituals, as well as American jazz, township jive, and classical music. Out of this blend of the secular and religious, and the traditional and the modern, Abdullah Ibrahim’s distinctive sound and musical vocabulary was born.
Sandhi Trio brings together the vibrant, expressive and modal musical styles of West Africa and India. The Sanskrit word “Sandhi” is a linguistic term, meaning the joining of two root sounds to create a new word, with a new meaning. Led by Malian kora master Yacouba Sissoko and South Indian Carnatic violinist Arun Ramamurthy, Sandhi Trio traverses musical languages to create a unique, soul-stirring sound that bridges millennia-old African Griot and South Asian raga traditions.
Photo by Megan Mumford from the November 17 show at The Egg
Family Circle with Veena and Devesh Chandra
In the Hart Theatre Lobby on Sundays: September 22, October 20, November 17, and December 8
An interactive workshop series featuring Veena & Devesh Chandra. Over 4 engaging sessions, this series progressed through the basic fundamentals of Indian melody and rhythm and offered children and families a unique hands-on experience to try instruments and authentically experience this storied tradition of Indian Classical Music.
Veena and Devesh Chandra, embodying the generational passage of knowledge from guru to disciple, bring to life a rich cultural heritage that has been carefully preserved and evolved over centuries. Whether a curious beginner or a seasoned music lover, the Raga Family Circle invited attendees of all ages to be part of a living tradition, offering a rare opportunity to experience the joy, complexity, and transformative power of Indian Classical Music in an accessible, immersive setting.
This entire series was free, with a suggested donation of $15. By the final event, attendance had grown from 15 to 70.
Photo of Devesh and Veena Chandra holding December 2024’s print copy of Metroland, which features a beautifully written interview by Jody Cowan
Press
Skip to 06:49 for Veena and Devesh Chandra’s interview on the PBS program
“AHA! A House for Arts”
