Waves of gravity
Waves of Gravity is a solo multimedia performance from sitarist, overtone singer, percussionist and composer, Neel Murgai, directed by Michole Biancosino with video and art design by Seema Pandya. Through story telling, raga, polyphonic overtone singing, percussion, live looping, and video projections, Neel weaves a personal story of healing in sound and music. Performed and live-streamed on October 22, 2021
Waves of Gravity is presented by CultureHub and supported by NYSCA and the City Artist Corps Grant.
Reorientation
Featuring his raga chamber jazz compositions and solo overtone singing, Neel’s Reorientation is now available in its entirety on bandcamp and major streaming platforms. https://neelmurgai.bandcamp.com/album/reorientation
This album is partially funded by the Jerome Composer's Commissioning Program, administered by the American Composer’s Forum. Additional funding was provided by the Spark Plug Foundation.
A reorientation of self and music, this album is a story of loss and recovery through community and new found love. The ensemble pieces were composed during another era of my life, when I was with my long time girlfriend who took her own life in 2012. The solo overtone singing compositions are my newest work and personal reflections used in part for self healing. In this album they exist in dialogue with the older music and my former self, providing reorientation for heart and mind.
Neel Murgai, Compositions, Sitar, Vocals, Daf
Sameer Gupta, Tabla
Trina Basu, Violin
Arun Ramamurthy, Violin
Marika Hughes, Cello
2,3,5,7,8 Recorded at Eastside Sound in November 2013
2,5,7,8 Edited by Sam Crawford 2014
3 Edited by Sameer Gupta, 2014
2,3,5,7,8 Mixed by Sam Crawford 2014
1,4,6,9 Recorded, mixed and edited by Lily Wen in November 2018
All tracks mastered by Kane Mathis in October 2019
©Neela Sangeeta 2019. All Rights Reserved,
Cover art by Seema Pandya
Raga Kids Element Suite
Raga Kids was started in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn in 2012 by Trina Basu, Sameer Gupta, and Neel Murgai who all draw from their experience in Indian classical music and many other music forms, including jazz, rock, Western classical and more. They started off writing easy to understand songs for kids written in multiple languages and based on specific ragas and have been singing them in classes for toddlers and family concerts held regularly in the NYC area ever since. This album features the latest Raga Kids songs about the four elements, with traditional Classical Raga pieces preceding three of them, to hear the ragas influence in context; plus a few other songs that are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!
Remember! 'Ragas' are the moods of Indian classical music and means “that which colors the mind”
Neel Murgai, sitar, guitar, vocals, cowbell, daf, bass
Sameer Gupta, guitar, tabla, vocals, drumset, tambourine, shakers, bass
Pawan Benjamin, bansuri, shennai, wurlitzer
Plus special guests (on Track 10 'First There Was the Sound')
Trina Basu, violin
Arun Ramamurthy, violin
Marika Hughes, cello
Neel Murgai Ensemble
Released in 2010 on Innova Records, this is Neel’s First album Neel Murgai, Sitar, Voice, Daf, Compositions Sameer Gupta, Tabla Mat Maneri, Viola Greg Heffernan, Cello
Terry Riley In C
Neel is musical director for Brooklyn Raga Massive's In C, performing Terry Riley's classic work with an ensemble of 18 musicians. They are the first to use so many Indian instruments and incorporate elements of raga and tala into the piece.
