New York Times Preview of Ragas Live 2019
12 Pop, Rock and Jazz Concerts to Check Out in N.Y.C. - “Performers will include…the sitarist Neel Murgai.”
The New York City Jazz Record
Review of Neel’s solo overtone singing/looping performance at 440 Gallery in Brooklyn, NY on Feb 17, 2019
Brooklyn Raga Massive in the New York Times
“New forms are being created that are indigenous to Brooklyn,” - Neel Murgai
BROADWAY WORLD: World Premiere Of JUNGLE BOOK BALLET To Feature Musical Direction By Jason Tramm And Neel Murgai
NPR- Brooklyn Raga Massive Takes 'In C' Out Of The Sky And Into The Streets
NPR Music premiered BRM’s Terry Riley In C Music video. “For Neel Murgai, the group's sitar player, Riley's music fosters civic pride and a sense of togetherness. "For us, playing Terry Riley's In C has always been about bringing the whole community together to play exquisite music," he tells NPR”
Variety reviews "A Decent Arrangement"
“…accompanied by a magnificent score by Neel Murgai”
Brooklyn Raga Massive: Best of NYC in the Village Voice
"There are precious few opportunities to enjoy a frosty beverage while slipping into the transcendental time warp of a classical Indian raga — which makes the Brooklyn Raga Massive's peripatetic Wednesday night events kind of like the Alamo Drafthouse of Indian classical music.”
Time Out New Delhi
“NME might jusst open your ears.”
Wall Street Journal - Raga Group Takes Minimalism to the Max
“Mr. Murgai, 44 years old, hails from an Indian family but grew up in Poughkeepsie, where he came to love music by studying guitar and trombone. “There was no one teaching sitar around me,” he said, noting that he only picked up the Indian stringed instrument after college. While doing independent research for his master’s degree, he said, he read about Terry Riley and listened to “In C” on YouTube.” - WSJ
Neel Murgai Ensemble: Raga-Chamber Jazz
Neel’s composition, Space Twang is featured on NPR’s song of the day. - “Fusion at it’s best”
Brooklyn’s Raga Enthusiasts Creating a Tradition
“Two and a half years ago sitar player Neel Murgai and his friends, tabalchis Sameer Gupta and Ehren Hanson, sarod player Camila Celin, Eric Fraser on the bansuri, and violinists Arun Ramamurthy and Trina Basu, got together to form the Brooklyn Raga Massive”
