By Forum Staff
Queens-based artists are bringing the soundtrack of South Richmond Hill—Bollywood remixes, soca beats, tablas, tassa drums, and more—to Flushing Town Hall later this month for a unique one-night-only festival.
Indo-Constellations: Rāginī Festival x Flushing Town Hall’s First Mini-Global Mashup Festival on March 23, at 5 p.m. is a convergence of Indo-Caribbean musical traditions and contemporary global sounds, according to Flushing Town Hall.
Indo-Constellations features pop mixed with Indian classical music and celebrates contemporary Indo-Caribbean music through a series of sets that blend Bollywood classics, island rhythms, and Indo-Afro Trinidadian beats, culminating in a percussive mash-up reflecting island culture with all its diasporic echoes and conversations that unite and honor shared histories.
Curated by Queens-based Roshni Samlal (DJ Raat Ki Rani), Rāginī Festival features seminal Bollywood tunes by Ben Parag, steelpan drums by Josanne Francis, and Fijian percussion by Fijiana. The festival also features a panel discussion, a collaborative jam, food and beverages for sale, and a culminating DJ set.
“Launching our first-ever Mini-Global Mashup Festival with Indo-Constellations is an exciting evolution of our beloved series, creating an immersive cross-cultural experience,” said Ellen Kodadek, executive and artistic director of Flushing Town Hall. “Flushing Town Hall has long been a home for global music, and this event perfectly embodies our mission of bringing diverse communities together through the power of the arts. We are honored to partner with Roshni Samlal and the Rāginī Festival to celebrate the incredible vibrancy of Indo-Caribbean and Fijian music and its deep connections to other global traditions.”
Samlal has described the show as “very Queens” in the way it reflects The World’s Borough’s musical landscape—one where Indo-Caribbean heritage and contemporary sounds naturally mix.
“At its core, this show is a reflection of Queens – both in its sounds and in the cultural communities that surround these artists. It captures the pop and folk aesthetics you might hear walking down Liberty Avenue while also exploring deeper connections between Indo-Caribbean heritage and Fijian music,” said Samlal. “Through themes of post-indentureship, reclamation, and shared sound histories, Indo-Constellations is about honoring the ways our histories and cultures continue to evolve and influence one another. I’m so grateful to Flushing Town Hall for providing a space where these artistic dialogues can thrive.”
Samlal is a New York-based tabla player and DJ who has studied within the Farrukhabad, Benares and Punjab gharanas or schools of Indian classical percussion. Samlal is now a prolific local teacher and performer, both in traditional, soloist repertoire, as a classical accompanist (Pt. Krishna Bhatt, Steve Gorn, Sobroto Roy Chowdhury) as well as within a variety of jazz, experimental and chamber ensembles (In D Ensemble, Arkinetics, Orakel.) She also explores electronic production as a narratorial context for tabla solos, incorporating poetry and sound collages that speak to topics of indentureship, post-colonial Caribbean identity, and migration. Samlal is the curator and producer of the Ragini Festival which focuses on spotlighting the work of artists engaged in traditional folk and innovative arts within the further reaches of the South Asian diaspora, focusing on Indo-Caribbean heritage.
