The first thought that comes to mind when you think of the sitar is sitar virtuoso the late Ravi Shankar. His famous daughter Anoushka Shankar is another reminder. The list goes on….. but one name that has refined the instrument and is wooing the youth is 37 year old Kolkatta lad Purbayan Chatterjee.

In a new generation of sitar players, Purbayan Chatterjee certainly gives competition to others in his ilk.

Chatterjee has performed over a 100 odd concerts in India and abroad. He has given his electric sitar the name ( “Dwo”, ) an offshoot from what Niladri Kumar, who called his electric sitar “Zitar”);

Born in Kolkata on 12^th September 1976, Purbayan Chatterjee is noted for amalgamating traditional Indian classical music with contemporary world music genres.

He has performed as a solo artist and as a part of the groups Shastriya Syndicate (Lehar) and Stringstruck. He is also a vocalist and has performed in duet with Shankar Mahadevan (Dwo - from the album Stringstruck). He has performed several times with tabla artist Ustad Zakir Hussain.

Purbayan was a recipient of the President of India Award for being the Best Instrumentalist of the country at the age of 15. He has also received the Aditya Vikram Birla Award for excellence and contributions to the field. He has also been honored with the Rasoi Award by Rotary International in 1995.

Purbayan is acclaimed, by the top-most maestros in India as well as connoisseurs of  music throughout the world, as one of the best young instrumentalists of the Hindustani  tradition.

He is the founder of Classicool which is a perfect unification of Hindustani and Carnatic music with rhythmic tunes of new age jazz and funk, ClassiCool is set to bring the new-old charm to regale all music lovers alike.

Growing up in Kolkata, Purbayan created a sensation when he first started performing largely because his playing style was reminiscent of the late Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. His father and guru, Partha Chatterjee, was a disciple of Banerjee, and Purbayan consciously fashioned himself in the image of his father’s guru for many years.

Verus Ferreira met up with Purbayan to know more about his work and also how came about to form Classicool:

Please help us understand the concept of ClassiCool?

Classicool is a movement. It’s a message to the citizens of contemporary India that "Classical is cool". It’s our national heritage and should be preserved. In this day and age, kids often take to the guitar or the drumkit because they think its "cool". Classicool retains original classical ragas and presents then in a modern soundscape using the bass and drums as accompaniment. In approximate 3 - 5 min capsules we present original content in a new context.

Some very famous names are associated here. How did everyone come on board?

Everybody in this first season of Classicool comes from a hallowed lineage and they are all well-known performers in their own right. I think the cause is worthy enough for anybody to associate. No musician can deny the need for a resurgence of classical music. The history of our music has seen golden ages in the past only when a conglomerate of awesome musicians was formed. I have a feeling good times are ahead for Indian Classical Music

How prevalent is classical music today? How do you plan to revive it?

Classical music is a niche product. It always has been and always will be. But just because everyone cannot appreciate a Rolls Royce or a Rolex, doesn’t mean people don’t know about it. Although classical music is used in abundance in Bollywood, its contribution is not spoken about enough. Everyone wants to be cool and talks about how they got a rapper for their song or mixed (meaning copied) a Turkish tune, but most people forget that Classical music is where it all starts from in India. 

People have a lower attention span these days (especially youngsters). Therefore classical music needs to be fed in shorter doses of a few minutes in a song-like format. Also these youngsters are used to a certain kind of bass-drum soundscape which they think is cool. They can also identify with certain visuals. Classicool presents classical music in a user-friendly format so that the sanctity of the raga is preserved without distancing or intimidating the listener

Why did you chose to associate with Qyuki.com?

The first time I walked into the Qyuki office I knew I had to do work with them. I think Qyuki.com is just the kind of mindset that is required to bring out-of-the-box content to people. They have the foresight to know the pulse of the audience, the creativity to make the content appealing and the commitment to bring it to the end-user. I am very thankful that Samir Bangara and Sagar Gokhale have shown this kind of faith in my ideas and we have, as a matter of fact done a bunch of work for them and plan to do a lot more in the future.

What has been the inspiration behind the formation of ClassiCool?

A very special friend of mine, Sangsthita Nandy had suggested to me that Classical Music needs some sort of revival to reach people like her who were open to it but not necessarily exposed enough. From our discussions, it came out that what kept her from listening to classical music was often length and also the kind of inhibitive formality and protocol that often distanced listeners. Her brother Sagnik came up with the name and Bingo!! With a name like that we just had to do it.

Is there a possibility of young musicians coming on board with ClassiCool?

Of course!! God-willing we plan to have many seasons of Classicool. We plan to make this a movement people believe in. With the support of Qyuki.com, I plan to have a future edition where we build songs in collaboration with musicians all over India or the world harnessing the power of the internet.

Interviewed by Verus Ferreira