A programme by Peter de Rooij about schools and styles in the North Indian raga music. With recordings of contemporary celebrities and their former masters. Purbayan Chatterjee.
In this episode of Gharana we will be featuring sitar player Purbayan Chatterjee (born 1976) from Calcutta. He is viewed as one of the top sitar players of India for more than ten years, but is only 33 years old. In India an age at which the best of an artist really only is starting to manifest.
Purbayan Chatterjee belongs to the famous Senia Maihar Gharana, the school of the musical genius Baba Allauddin Khan (1862[?]-1972), guru of celebrities like his son Ali Akbar Khan (1922) on the sarod, his daughter Annapurna Devi (1926) on the sarod, Panannal Ghosh (1911-1960) on the bansuri and Ravi Shankar (1920) and Nikhil Banerjee (1931-1986) on the sitar.
Besides the beautifully recorded and executed raga Puriya that you can hear in the second half of this programme, Pieter de Rooij sketches a musical portrait of Purbayan Chatterjee by an interview from early April 2008, in which Purbayan Chatterjee speaks about his career and his music in a fast changing India. Purbayan Chatterjee is a very versatile musician. Besides his concerts with North Indian raga music he also plays in combination with musicians from the South Indian raga tradition and participates worldwide in all kinds of fusion projects of various world and jazz musicians. In this musical portrait you can listen to all these qualities, including the Shastriya Syndicate that he recently established. This ensemble of musicians from North and South Indian raga traditions makes classic raga music easier accessible for a public that isn’t familiar with Indian raga music. We will also look at his duets with veena player Jayanthi Kumaresh, violist Kala Ramnath and flute player Shashank. The music and the influence of his father Partha Chatterjee, also a sitar player, and his guru, the legendary Senia Maihar sitar player Nikhil Banerjee, will of course also receive ample treatment.
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1. Raga Malgunji – diverse selections from all parts (alap; Gat in Rupak, Gat in Drut Teentaal).
Performers: Purbayan Chatterjee, Subhankar Banerjee.
composer: trad.
album: Talaash
label and year: Sense 076 ; C. 2006
2. Raga Hem Bihag.
Performers: Partha Chatterjee, sitar. Abhijit Bhanerjee, tabla. Mieke Berger, tanpura.
Recording made on 5 June 1993 in the Soeterijn Theater in Amsterdam (Collection Royal Tropical Institute).
3. Parts of Raga Puriya Kalyan – Gat Vilambit and Drut Teentaal.
Performers: Nikhil Banerjee, Swapan Chaudhuri.
composer: trad.
album: Raga Puriya Kalyan
label and year: unknown
4. Parts of Raga Surdasi Malhar – alap.
performers: Nikhil Banerjee.
composer: trad.
album: Total Absorption
label and year: unknown
5. Warrior At Dusk – Raag Puriya Dhanashri (part).
Performers: The Shastriya Syndicate (Purbayan Chatterjee, Subhankar Banerjee a.o.).
composer: Purbayan Chatterjee, Subhankar Banerjee.
album: Syndicated
label and year: Sense 105 ; C. 2008
6. Raga Hansadhwani – Vadhya Prabandha (part).
performers: Purbayan Chatterjee, Jayanthi Kumaresh.
composer: trad.
album: Mandala
label and year: Sense 100 ; C. 2008
7. Raga Kedar – Composition in Vilambit Jhaptaal (part).
performers: Purbayan Chatterjee, Kala Ramnath.
composer: trad.
album: Samwad
label and year: Sense 039 ; C. 2004
8. Raga Puriya Dhanashri – some parts of the Gat in Matta language.
performers: Purbayan Chatterjee, Shashank, Yogesh Samsi, Patri Satish Kumar.
composer: trad.
album: Rasayana
label and year: Sense 060 ; C. 2005
9. Warrior At Dusk – Raag Puriya Dhanashri.
performers: The Shastriya Syndicate (with Purbayan Chatterjee on sitar).
composer: Purbayan Chatterjee, Subhankar Banerjee.
album: Syndicated
label and year: Sense 105 ; C. 2008
10. Raga Puriya – alap.
performers: Purbayan Chatterjee, Subhankar Banerjee.
composer: trad.
album: Talaash
label and year: Sense 076 ; C. 2006
11. Raga Puriya – Gat in Vilambit Teentaal.
performers: Purbayan Chatterjee, Subhankar Banerjee.
composer: trad.
album: Talaash
label and year: Sense 076 ; C. 2006
12. Raga Puriya – Gat in Ektaal and Teentaal.
performers: Purbayan Chatterjee, Subhankar Banerjee.
composer: trad.
album: Talaash
label and year: Sense 076 ; C. 2006
