Ron Ragel is a Sri-Lankan born sitarist living in Sydney.

 This ancient instrument, with its origins in antiquity is a plucked nineteen-stringed instrument that uses main as well as sympathetic strings along with a long neck and a gourd resonating chamber, producing a beautiful, mystical sound.

As a musician, Ron has performed in a diverse range of venues, from Corporate Events, on Channel Nine Network Television, National and International Concerts, Festivals and Public Institutions. As a sitarist, his touch, strokes, glides and production of the tonal and micro-tonal effects produce a signature sound, entirely his alone, and is always played as a musical expression to the Divine. Ron began playing stringed instruments at the early age of six. He moved to Australia from Sri Lanka in the early seventies, began playing music professionally in Sydney and was a founding member of popular 70’s group Dark Tan. They later became the first all-Asian band to have received national recognition in Australia by the mid-seventies with a string of record releases.

After leaving Dark Tan in 1976, Ron went on to establish a long and successful career in the music industry, pioneering world music in Australia throughout the nineties and early 2000’s. Ron is a founding member of GLOBAL ROOTS and INDIAJIVA, a group of inspiring musicians who blend the classical world of Indian music with indigenous, world and contemporary musical genres. They are masters at weaving ethereal Vedic chants and Raga Sangeet (ancient Indian music tradition which had been in existence for thousands of years) with their mystical sonorities, presenting their music in a contemporary and accessible manner wherever they go.

Along with being a gifted musician, Ron has also written several articles and books on Sacred music and its therapeutic benefits. Together with his wife, composer Vicki Hansen, they play a range of both traditional and modern instruments, having released several CDs both nationally and internationally. Since the turn of the century, Ron has been dedicated to the “Art of the Sitar” and in bringing this ancient and wonderful instrument to the hearts and minds of contemporary audiences.