Ragas Live Festival 2025

Ragas Live 2025 is SOLD OUT. No Door tickets are available.Tune into the livestream!

Pioneer Works is excited to present 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 on radio (audio only) at 89.9 FM WKCR in NYC & live online (video and audio) at Pioneer Works’ YouTube and Relix Magazine’s YouTube.

For the 2025 festival, more than 50 artists and legendary maestros of the South Asian classical tradition will perform alongside groundbreaking contemporary artists in a musical journey through day and night. The artist lineup features some of the greatest living sitar players Shahid Parvez Khan and Purbayan Chatterjee, the ecstatic Saami Brothers Qawwal, L. Shankar, the legendary co-founder of Shakti with John McLaughlin, 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).

Important Info for Attendees

• Entry is General Admission and re-entry is permitted for the duration of the festival. Please make sure to hang onto the wristband you receive upon check-in.

• If you purchased a Ragas Festival VIP Supporter Ticket, please check in at the front desk.

• Throughout the space there will be rugs and chairs set up for sitting, in addition to ample standing room and outdoor space for roaming, throughout the festival. Seating is not guaranteed and is available on a first come first serve basis.

• Attendees are permitted to bring necessary provisions to sit comfortably for long periods of time. Please be mindful of other patrons’ space needs (please no mattresses, structures, etc) and allow flexibility to adjust accordingly as the hours progress.

• Please limit outside food and drink. Food and refreshments will be available for purchase for the entire 24 hour duration. See vendor list and schedule below.

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.

Ragas Live Festival is produced by Pioneer Works in collaboration with the Society for Arts and Culture of South Asia (Palo Alto), NYC Radio Live, People of Rhythm Productions, and Brooklyn Raga Massive. Ragas Live Festival is sponsored, in part, by the Greater New York Arts Development Fund of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, administered by Brooklyn Arts Council as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Beverage sponsorship provided by Yerba Madre.

This program takes place within artist Raúl de Nieves’s site-specific installation, In Light of Innocence. Learn more about the exhibition here.