Varijashree Venugopal on performing in New York: 'A big celebration of music and creative exchange'

Grammy-nominated artiste Varijashree Venugopal is set to perform at the iconic Blue Note New York as part of the Michael League & Friends Residency, presented by GroundUP & Snarky Puppy, on January 22, with another appearance on January 25, 2026. She will share the spotlight with artistes including Genevieve Artadi, Victoria Canal, Lau Noah, and more. The residency showcases songwriters Michael League has worked with, featuring reimagined originals performed by some of the most compelling musicians from around the world.

Varijashree Venugopal set to perform at Blue Note New York with Michael League & Friends Residency 

Throwing light on her upcoming performance, Varijashree tells Indulge, “To give a little insight into Michael League’s residency that’s currently taking place at Blue Note in New York, it is such an immense honour for me to be a part of a couple of curations—two evenings, in fact—on the 22nd and 25th of January 2026, as part of the Songwriters Collective and the GroundUp Family features. It is a big celebration happening right now, and I can't wait to join everyone, meet my wonderful musical family, spend time with them, learn a few things, watch and listen to them, and be a part of this musical experience.”

She adds, “It is pretty much like a temple of music in that city. To be there and participate as a performer, alongside a fantastic friend, a fellow collaborator, and an incredible musical genius like Michael League, I think is one of the most fulfilling experiences happening right at the beginning of this year.”

So, what does it mean to be part of Michael League’s residency? “I feel very privileged and honoured to be a part of such a fantastic curation that Michael League is presenting as part of his residency at the Blue Note New York, especially because it is mostly about bringing together creative beings and explorers of music from different parts of the world, from different musical cultures and different walks of life, to come together to melt with each other and to explore together. Michael is one of the musical creators that I have looked up to and admired for a long time for all that he does. He is one of the people who have been a catalyst in me deciding to come out with an entirely new set of full-length original work, which is now the released album Vari. All of this has been an extremely mind-bending and mind-expanding experience for me, and it continues to be so.”

Discussing how her original compositions are being reimagined for the residency, she explains, “We had a fantastic time reimagining the tunes from my original album, Vari, which was the studio album, into the live set, which also was recorded and released as Vari: The Live Sessions. Now when we play some of the tunes from this album, it will be much different and exciting because we have some incredible artists that are going to be participating in the songwriters session on Jan 22nd.” Varijashree adds, “I am really, really curious and excited to see how they would interpret the arrangements of the tunes that we are going to play at the Blue Note.”

And what can audiences expect from the two shows on January 22? “The most beautiful part of this will be to observe how these artistes will want to apply their craft to these songs and how they interpret them.” Talking about how the performances would differ between the 8 pm and 10.30 pm sets, she notes, “If you give me one tune and ask me to play it 10 times continuously with a set of people, according to me, every rendition of that will be different. That is the beauty of creation that happens on the spot.”

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