Two of our favorite artists, Saraswathi Ranganathan (veena) & Swaminathan Selvaganesh (kanjira) returned to Ragas Live Festival 2024 for a late night/early morning set of Carnatic music. It was 5:30 AM set of the 24 hour festival at Pioneer Works on 10.20.24 and Saraswathi led the audience on a journey.

Saraswathi brings with her a legacy of firsts. She is the first Indian woman and Veena artiste to win a Chicago Music Award in its 35-year history, the first Veena artiste to perform as an orchestra member of Disney’s Jungle Book production and the first Veena artiste to receive a $10,000 grant from the Logan Foundation in Chicago. She attributes her path-carving success to the inclusive energy in her music and in her life. Her goal? Bring artists and listeners together as one community united in music and understanding. – worded by Stephanie Jones, Jazzspeak.org

Saraswathi constantly endeavors for sounds of the Veena to reach a cross cultural global audience. She learned Veena from her mother Shantha Ranganathan and from Karnataka Kalashree EP Alamelu in Bangalore. She has been performing and teaching for over three decades now.

Saraswathi also has the distinction as being the first Veena artiste whose original multi-lingual song “Ennai Azhaithaen – I embraced me” was commissioned by the Chicago Humanities Fest.

Saraswathi is the first Veena artiste to perform live music for Chicago International Moves & Music Fest with original score for screening of the movie Buster Keaton’s Seven Chances. Swaminathan Selvaganesh is a renowned percussionist hailing from a family of world-class musicians. Born into a musical dynasty, he is the grandson of Padma Bhushan recipient T.H. Vikku Vinayakram and the son of Grammy winner V. Selvaganesh, both prominent figures in the world of Indian percussion

We hang a maestro of Bulgarian music, Lubomir Smilenov, and hear his incredible performance from Ragas Live Festival 2020 with Matt Moran.

Both performers will be featured at this weekend's Zlatne Ustne Golden Festival January 17-18 in Astoria, Queens. Lubomir Smilenov, born in Bulgaria and raised in New York City, found a unique expression of his heritage through the Kaba Gaida, the traditional Bulgarian bagpipe. He learned the intricate skills of this ancient instrument in Midtown Manhattan, where Kiril Ketev of Smolyan, Bulgaria, led a weekly Gaida workshop.

Today, Lubomir teaches at 101 Kaba Gaidi NYC, where he shares his expertise with students eager to learn the traditional music. He has performed at venues such as the MET Museum, Golden Fest, Hungarian House, and the International Bagpipe Conference, specializing in music from the Rhodope region of Southern Bulgaria. Lubomir strives to immerse his audiences and students in the vibrant musical heritage of the Gaida.

Vibraphonist and tunesmith Matt Moran "plays the vibraphone like a speed-chess master, always darting off into flurries of ingenious, unexpected activity" (Village Voice). Although he was named "Rising Star" on vibraphone by the 2014 Downbeat Critics Poll, Moran is just as often known for his work as the drummer and bandleader for brass band Slavic Soul Party! His career exists in diverse musical environments, from chamber music to jazz to Balkan folk music, and evinces a dedication to music education for incarcerated people.

Moran has released 10 albums as a leader, and performed on nearly 100 albums by other artists, including Sufjan Stevens, Theo Bleckmann, William Parker, Ellery Eskelin, and Luciana Souza. His longtime collaboration with percussionist/composer John Hollenbeck has been documented on 8 recordings by Hollenbeck's Claudia Quintet as well as recordings of his Large Ensemble and chamber music. Lengthy relationships are a hallmark of Moran's style: in addition to Slavic Soul Party!'s 20 years of music making, he has worked for many years with the artists Nate Wooley, Curtis Hasselbring, Daniel Levin, Brian Shankar Adler, Peter Hess, Raif Hyseni, Bojan Vuletic, and Mat Maneri.

For the past decade, Moran has been an educator and performer for Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute, with a special focus on education, creation, and performance for New Yorkers in many different parts of the judicial system. Currently, he co-leads Carnegie Hall's music education program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

Moran has a Master's degree in jazz composition from New England Conservatory where he studied with composer and improviser Joseph Maneri, and a Bachelor's degree in jazz composition from Berklee College of Music where he studied with Ed Saindon and Gary Burton.

New York's greatest music bash, the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival is returning to Astoria Queens, January 17-18, 2025. Over 50 ensembles particiapte on several stages and dancefloors, brass bands, polyphonic choirs...Bulgarian, Macedonian, Romani, Turkish, Serbian, Greek, Persian, Klezmer, you name it... after 39 years of this festival it has evolved to become one incredible party.

In this episode Jerry Kisslinger a founding member of Zlatne Uste and Pontic Firebird, shares some burning tracks and we dig in to the roots of this music this wild event.