Beyond rehearsals: How Purbayan Chatterjee is redefining classical music
Pushing boundaries has become the new normal for classical musicians today. Trained in raga, tala and laya, many are moving beyond rehearsals, concerts and classrooms to collaborate with artistes across genres and create unconventional projects that test their artistic limits.
Sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee fits that mould. Over the years, he has worked with Ustad Zakir Hussain, Pat Metheny, Béla Fleck and Jordan Rudess, among others, carving a niche through both classical performances and genre-defying presentations.
Brought up in a traditional environment where the sanctity and grammar of classical music were emphasised, Chatterjee says his outlook changed as he began interacting with musicians from different cultures and genres. “Over time, many of the walls and limitations that existed in my mind quietly dissolved,” he says. “That allowed me to blend my understanding of raga-based music with nuances borrowed from other musical styles in a seamless and honest way.”
While he remains rooted in acoustic sound, Chatterjee admits he is open to electrified textures when the composition demands it. “As for electrified sounds, I still deeply love the tone of my acoustic sitar. But sometimes, certain emotions expect you to unlock an entirely different form of expression. I try to use those textures selectively, only when the music genuinely calls for it,” he adds.
For Chatterjee, music at its core is a “heartfelt response in the moment to another artistic idea” — a philosophy that continues to shape his classical recitals and experimental projects.
