Shanti Ragas: Peaceful Melodies Music is a universal language. No matter where you are on the globe, music is always there to keep us grounded and feeling at ease. Raga is a melodic framework that is used in Indian classical music as a basis for improvisation, and is often used as meditative and relaxing music. “Shanti Ragas: Peaceful Melodies” at Unity Spiritual Center features intricate rhythms, melodic exploration and a massive amount of improvisational interplay. The featured musicians — Phil Scarff, Anjan Saha and Arup Chattopadhyay — show off their musical chops and ease listeners into a calming state. Because there’s no melodic system akin to raga in classical European music, it’s sure to be a sonic experience like you’ve never heard before.
Odissi dancers Kripa Iyer and Neelambaree Prasad
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Kripa Iyer and Neelambaree Prasad’s virtual festival, Aprajita, is connecting dancers across the globe and redefining what it means to be a community
Around this time last year, the entertainment world was just starting to learn to adapt to lockdowns and going digital. Fans caught Norah Jones and Aventura’s livestreams, while lounging in their beds; large-scale music festivals, including NH7 and Sunburn, went wholly online; and as the pandemic dissolved the concept of ticket kiosks, people got busy building their digital avatars for concerts such as the Zero Music Festival. The competition soon grew fierce: it wasn’t enough to cast events online, the events had to be short, impactful, and engaging.