Posted inMusic

The Reader’s guide to World Music Festival Chicago 2022

The term “world music” has never been adequate to the task we’ve set it—even in its most benign reading, it implies a division between the listener and the rest of the world. And if that listener is in the United States, our country’s global hegemony in popular music colors the term’s meaning too.  Americans don’t […]

Posted inMusic

Surabhi Ensemble connects Chicago’s global music community to far corners of the world

The Surabhi Ensemble was founded in 2010 by Indian veena player Saraswathi Ranganathan, director of the Ensemble of Ragas School of Performing Arts in Schaumburg and “Best Asian Entertainer of the Year,” according to the 2018 Chicago Music Awards. The core of the group has included fellow local musical luminaries such as Spanish flamenco guitarist […]