Purbayan Chatterjee is an immensely talented sitariya of the Senia Maihar tradition, who today best embodies the playing style of Pandit Nikhil Bannerji, despite never having formally learnt from him. In a conversation, he talked about Nikhilda, his music and the inner conflicts he faced in his musical journey.
We ended on a lighter note with Purbayan joking, “In a jugalbandi, when you give the audience quantity (i.e. you play too much) it’s just a way of letting the audience know that actually you are very insecure! Music has to be presented subtly, you should not go out there and display all you know, you have to have a few tricks up your sleeve. It’s like wit – you don’t meet someone and tell them 10 jokes in one go!”
Edited excerpts:
Tell us about your association Pandit Nikhil Bannerji
My father, Partha Prathim Chatterjee learnt from Pandit Nikhil Bannerji, and I remember my earliest memory of him is in our house when I was about six, and I played what little I knew. He examined my hands, (for strength) advised me to do some “paltas” (note patterns like scales), and told my parents he would hear me again in a few years time. When I was eight years old he again made me play for him, and then told my parents he was willing to teach me formally in the proper guru shishya parampara tradition, when I turned 12. But I would have to live with him, eat what he gave, wear clothes he gave me, and in every way be detached from my old way of life. I was very excited, but sadly, he died. So I missed out.
I heard his recording of Marwa when I was in Jakarta with my parents (father was posted there) and this was the turning point in my life musically. I was so inspired then that I was determined to play like him and be a professional musician.
He used to say that when you start playing, you have to blindly copy, and imitate. After you evolve musically then you have to consciously play your own music, tell your own story. He said he himself had to do this.
You later learnt from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan. But how did you evolve as a sitariya – your musical inspirations?
I learnt a little from Pandit Ajoy Chakravorty, so imbibed a bit of Punjabi vocal tradition. I used to hear a lot of Ustad Vilayat Khan, Ustad Zakir Hussain was a huge inspiration for presentation of music, Pandit Anindo Chatterji for laya, as also Carnatic musicians, as well as musicians I interacted with in Bollywood. Pandit Jasraj has taught me things too. In the recent past, Shankar Mahadevan has influenced me – he balances the commercial aspect of his music with his duty as a melodious classical artist.
Tell us about your musical experimentations
Who you are is a result of all your cumulative musical experiences. And these dominate you at a particular phase in your musical life. God ordains what you have to learn at a particular time musically, and at another time you grow out of it and move on. I wanted to do all the things I had never done. I played the sitar standing up, played electric music, shunned my kurta pyjama …. now its over. From last year onwards, I have dived back into purely classical concerts.
People have criticised that I strayed from the classical path with my innovations and experiments with different types of music – it’s not true. When I played classical, I stuck to my taalim (training) always. I have played my classical concerts at one fourth the money I got elsewhere.
My experimentation with music has made me a richer musician and I don’t regret anything. Getting out of your comfort zone, walking away from what you know and have learnt – that’s more difficult to do.
In fact, I feel we younger musicians are called the torch bearers of our gharanas – and yes, we are proud of this. But we also have our own aspirations as musicians of today. We cannot always play and behave exactly as someone did in the past! Rakesh (Chaurasia), Amaan Ayaan (Ali Khan) Rahul (Sharma) – all of us face this conflict at some point, and it’s not bad. Music is about finding who you are – unless you look, and try new things how will you?
Recently I played in an iconic Marathi film “Katyar Karjat Ghusali”, where music was composed by Shankar Mahadevan. I have composed music for Bengali films too. I would love to compose for Bollywood too.
I am a sucker for tradition – without it there’s nothing. But tradition too changes – what was tradition 1,000 years ago is not the tradition of today! So let’s not put out juries to judge. The audience is the ultimate jury. They know who they want to come to hear. At the end of the day, soulful music always wins.
Your favourite city in terms of understanding of music...
Every city has a different pulse – South Delhi audiences are very cultivated, cultured, highbrow audiences who listen very well.
Maharashtrian cities have a tradition of hearing vocal music more but when they hear me, they want to hear my traditional compositions. In Calcutta, audiences are looking for something new, they like to be talent spotters. I love playing in Banaras, you have to play traditional, no fancy stuff. They listen with passion.
Your views on recording albums
One should record in different times of your life as when you change as a musician, it should be out there. But don’t overdo the recordings or people won’t come to hear you live. I have recently recorded 15 tracks for SaReGaMa for their new application.
Should the government do more for music?
This government has made things easier – their whole agenda is to open up things. Arts and culture too should be opened up a bit more – the funds that are available should be used more transparently by people wanting to promote music. Indian culture is recognised by this government.
