Brooklyn Raga Massive’s annual Ragini Festival returns starting March 8, International Women’s Day

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The music collective, Brooklyn Raga Massive, announced the return of Rāginī Festival, its annual month-long exploration of “artists who challenge systemic patriarchy in the South Asian creative ecosystem” which kicks off on March 8, International Women’s Day.

The 2023 edition of Rāginī Festival offers a cross-oceanic immersion into the art of the Indies, both East and West, a press release from the organization said.

This year, festival curator Roshni Samlal took inspiration from the term “baithak“, meaning “sitting down”, which describes a type of sitting together with the intention of creating closeness between listener and performer in a communal salon or “mehfil” setting symbolic of South Asian classical music.

“Seeking to build threads of connection and also to acknowledge rifts in diasporic identity,” this year’s choices move through Surinamese baithak ghana chanting, Trinidadian Bhojpuri folk song, Queer “Coolitude” poetics, and South Asian classical music.

Taking place across the city in spaces such as Lincoln Center, The Rubin Museum, and Joe’s Pub, Rāginī Festival will convert the settings into intimate gathering spaces for poetry, music, dance, and visual arts.

Among the artists performing at the venues is Barkha Patel, Natie, Renluka Maharaj, LASYA, Liany Mateo, Radikha Samson, Tassa Drumming Ensemble, Chowtaal Ensemble, Pratima Doobay, DJ Cardamami, offering rain, Shivanee Ramlochan, and more.

For details of the Ragini Festival and tickets, visit Brooklynragamassive.org