COLA Catalog (May 2021)
Catalog profile for the 2021 COLA Individual Artist Fellowship, published by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs. Authored by Andrew Sivak (PhD), co-owner of Bad Animal Books in Santa Cruz, CA. Please click an image below to read the full profile.
Intersectional Trails, ConventioNOT Podcast, episode #65 (2021).
Tom Greenland, The New York Jazz Record (Dec. 2019),
Excerpt: "Recurring hypnotic moments arose from Shankar’s rapid juxtaposition of identical high and low melody lines, in turn permeated by Agrawal’s fleet finger-strokes, creating a rippling effect between the two musicians. A later piece in an unusual tal of 9¼ beats was enlivened by more such violin/tabla interchanges, culminating in a series of exciting rhythmic cadences."
Renuka Suryanarayanan, The Hindu (Nov. 21, 2019).
Excerpt: "When the curtains went up to reveal a blue backdrop on stage at Middleton Performing Arts Center, the audience was first greeted with the mercurial notes of Shenkar playing Khamboji in a Ragam Tanam Pallavi format to the haunting beats of Neel Agrawal’s shining tabla, darbuka, and white frame drums."
Mentioned in A Journey that began with 108 Coconuts (Priya Menon, July 14, 2019), regarding recording on L. Shankar’s album, Chepleeri Dream.
Interview on African Drumming Laws in World Musical Instrument Collection, Department of Ethnomusicology, Herb Alpert School of Music, University of California, Los Angeles, Music Reference Services Quarterly, Vol. 20(1), pgs. 42-53 (Maureen Russell, March 15, 2017), available on Taylor & Francis Online (subscription required).
African Drums and the Legal Beat, MaxTheTracks (Paula Parisi, February 1, 2017).
A Syllabus and Song for Change (ft. Neel Agrawal), Almirah Radio Hour, episode #11 (Jan. 16, 2017).
Percussionist on Cultural Confluence, Artistic Darkness, and Deconstructing Ego [Neel Agrawal], East Meets Words, Cambridge, MA (June 2016).
Glossary of World Percussion Instruments, DRUM! MAGAZINE (Jan. 12, 2012).