Women’s Raga Massive Music & Art

Music, art, and empowerment converge in this special in-gallery concert and discussion. Inspired by an artwork embodying female power, Women’s Raga Massive musicians improvise, drawing from Indian classical and contemporary music, and reflecting on the role of women in South Asian performing arts.

Presented in collaboration with Brooklyn Raga Massive

Trina Basu: Violin

Anjna Swaminathan: Violin

About the Performers

Women’s Raga Massive (WRM), an offshoot of the Brooklyn Raga Massive, is primarily concerned with exploring and making visible the diverse creative work of female-identified artists in a musical world where those voices are a minority. The music collective identifies with the boldness of the experimental music movement, using the Indian classical music tradition as a framework to improvise and bring in influences from the diverse cultures of Brooklyn.

Trina Basu is an adventurous violinist, improviser, and teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. She is the co-leader of raga folk-inspired chamber ensemble Karavika with cellist Amali Premawardhana. Their self-released debut album, Sunrise, was praised by All About Jazz as a dynamic sonic blend of uncommon mesmeric beauty.” Her other projects include Nakshatra with violinist Arun Ramamurthy and her performance work with Brooklyn Raga Massive, where she also serves as an Artistic Director. Trina frequently collaborates with dancers, poets and artists in various multidisciplinary projects and performs regularly with Women’s Raga Massive, A.R. Balaskandan’s Akshara, Imani Uzuri’s Hush Harbor Opera, Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra, Parul Shah, and BRM’s Coltrane Raga Tribute. She is a founder and curator of “Out of the Woods,” a month-long festival in March featuring women-led projects and community-based activism, presented by Women’s Raga Massive. Trina’s expressive sound has brought her to stages around the world performing with artists such as Urban Bush Women, Mos Def, Gil Scott Heron, Marc Cary, Awa Sangho, Taylor Mac, and Dr. Mysore Manjunath.

Anjna Swaminathan is a versatile violinist, composer, and multidisciplinary artist. A disciple of the late violin maestro M.S. Gopalakrishnan and H.K. Narasimhamurthy, she performs regularly in Carnatic, Hindustani, and creative music settings. Her current mentors include Samarth Nagarkar (Hindustani music) and T.M. Krishna (Carnatic music). Anjna is a budding composer and was a 2018 composer fellow at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, where she premiered her string quartet “A Secret Rendezvous” for Del Sol String Quartet. In March 2019, Anjna will be premiering her new string quartet “Duplicity” commissioned by Orchestra St. Luke’s and GLFCAM for Carnegie Hall’s Migrations: The Making of America festival. As a theatre artist, writer, and dramaturg with interests in the intersection of race, class/caste, gender and sexuality, Hindu Vedantic philosophy, and the boundaries of postcolonial Indian nationhood, Anjna often engages in artistic work that ties together multiple aesthetic forms towards a critical consciousness. She leads the multidisciplinary project WOVEN, which brings together original music and poetry to meditate on rituals of memory, death, and nationality. In April 2019, she will be premiering a new iteration of WOVEN, commissioned by Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, NY.











When: Sat., Mar. 16, 2019 at 2:00 pm - 2:45 pm
Where: Rubin Museum of Art
150 W. 17th St.
212-620-5000
Price: Tickets $19; Member Tickets $15.20; Senior/Student Tickets $14; Member Senior/Student Tickets $11.20
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Music, art, and empowerment converge in this special in-gallery concert and discussion. Inspired by an artwork embodying female power, Women’s Raga Massive musicians improvise, drawing from Indian classical and contemporary music, and reflecting on the role of women in South Asian performing arts.

Presented in collaboration with Brooklyn Raga Massive

Trina Basu: Violin

Anjna Swaminathan: Violin

About the Performers

Women’s Raga Massive (WRM), an offshoot of the Brooklyn Raga Massive, is primarily concerned with exploring and making visible the diverse creative work of female-identified artists in a musical world where those voices are a minority. The music collective identifies with the boldness of the experimental music movement, using the Indian classical music tradition as a framework to improvise and bring in influences from the diverse cultures of Brooklyn.

Trina Basu is an adventurous violinist, improviser, and teacher based in Brooklyn, NY. She is the co-leader of raga folk-inspired chamber ensemble Karavika with cellist Amali Premawardhana. Their self-released debut album, Sunrise, was praised by All About Jazz as a dynamic sonic blend of uncommon mesmeric beauty.” Her other projects include Nakshatra with violinist Arun Ramamurthy and her performance work with Brooklyn Raga Massive, where she also serves as an Artistic Director. Trina frequently collaborates with dancers, poets and artists in various multidisciplinary projects and performs regularly with Women’s Raga Massive, A.R. Balaskandan’s Akshara, Imani Uzuri’s Hush Harbor Opera, Adam Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra, Parul Shah, and BRM’s Coltrane Raga Tribute. She is a founder and curator of “Out of the Woods,” a month-long festival in March featuring women-led projects and community-based activism, presented by Women’s Raga Massive. Trina’s expressive sound has brought her to stages around the world performing with artists such as Urban Bush Women, Mos Def, Gil Scott Heron, Marc Cary, Awa Sangho, Taylor Mac, and Dr. Mysore Manjunath.

Anjna Swaminathan is a versatile violinist, composer, and multidisciplinary artist. A disciple of the late violin maestro M.S. Gopalakrishnan and H.K. Narasimhamurthy, she performs regularly in Carnatic, Hindustani, and creative music settings. Her current mentors include Samarth Nagarkar (Hindustani music) and T.M. Krishna (Carnatic music). Anjna is a budding composer and was a 2018 composer fellow at the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music, where she premiered her string quartet “A Secret Rendezvous” for Del Sol String Quartet. In March 2019, Anjna will be premiering her new string quartet “Duplicity” commissioned by Orchestra St. Luke’s and GLFCAM for Carnegie Hall’s Migrations: The Making of America festival. As a theatre artist, writer, and dramaturg with interests in the intersection of race, class/caste, gender and sexuality, Hindu Vedantic philosophy, and the boundaries of postcolonial Indian nationhood, Anjna often engages in artistic work that ties together multiple aesthetic forms towards a critical consciousness. She leads the multidisciplinary project WOVEN, which brings together original music and poetry to meditate on rituals of memory, death, and nationality. In April 2019, she will be premiering a new iteration of WOVEN, commissioned by Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, NY.

Buy tickets/get more info now