Purbayan Chatterjee comes from a family steeped in the classical music tradition. His father and guru, Shri Parthapratim Chatterjee (also known as Partha Chatterjee), is a distinguished sitarist in his own right, having achieved the status of a highly respected teacher and performer in Europe and the USA as well as India.
Purbayan began studying music at 5 years old, when his father gave him a sitar and introduced him to the music of Nikhil Banerjee, one of India’s greatest musicians, from the school of Baba Alauddin Khan – a fundamenral name in Indian classical music and from the same school as Ravi Shankar. His father took Purbayan to meet Nikhil at the age of seven, where Purbayan played a tune with the intention of joining his school. Just two years later, Nikhil passed away, but that meeting was a pivotal moment and the beginning of his life-long obsession with the sitar.
In the tradition of the Senia Maihar gharana, Purbayan’s playing is an aesthetically satisfying combination of the best facets of “Dhrupad” and “Khayal”, North India’s two greatest classical vocal forms. The discipline and richness of the “Dhrupad” form is interspersed with the exuberance and lyricism of “Khayal”.
While Purbayan’s work can generally be categorized within the Hindustani Classical prism, his recorded work since his breakthrough in early 2000s, has been criticized for its non-purist style. Responding to negative critique, Purbayan is clear, “I really do care, but it’s not everything. I had a period of rebellion, musically and in life. I had long hair and would play sitar standing up. But now it’s a question of the audience, the listeners and people experiencing the show and music. Will they believe in it?. The aim is to be true to oneself.”
In 2022, Purbayan Chatterjee released the album “Saath Saath”, a collaboration with flute maestro and composer Rakesh Chaurasia.
When asked what his musical hero Nikhil Bannerjee would have thought about “Saath Saath“, Purbayan quickly attests, “He would love this record, always looked for innovation and once said ‘music is the language of the heart‘”.
Discography:
Horizon (Peshkar, 1999)
Nirman (Sense World Music, 2004)
Samwad, with Kala Ramnath (Sense World Music, 2004)
Rasayana, with Shashank (Sense World Music, 2005)
Aavishkar, with Kala Ramnath (Sense World Music)
Taalash (Sense World Music, 2006)
Rising Stars Magical Fingers (HMV)
Singing Sitar (Virgin Records, India)
Lehar (Times Music)
Purbayan (Times Music)
Stringstruck (Times Music)
Sitarscape (EMI Virgin, 2012, 2009)
Hemisphere (Times Music)
Sitarscape (EMI, 2012)
Pace Of Mind (2015)
Abaad = Unbounded (Sufiscore, 2021)
Saath Saath (2022)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.