The Rising ‘Sitar’

Everyone has this fantasy while growing up - to be a rock star! I often spent hours in the bathroom pretending to take a shower, while I was being a rock star to the audience in my mirror. Signing autographs to the numerous ‘imaginary’ fans was almost always interrupted by my mother's raps on the door. "Have you finished your shower? What’s taking you so long?” she'd ask.

This memory comes up again as I read about Purbayan. Browsing through the internet recently, I came across an artist who is ranked amongst the top in the new artist brigade - Purbayan Chatterjee. At the tender age of 5 years, he gave his first performance at the India Festival in Basel. He was rightly recognized as ‘the most gifted torch bearer of the Senia-Maihar Gharana’, Baba Alauddin Khan’s school of music. He had an extraordinary ability to annotate every song that he heard at that age. For some reason, I still can't remember any of the songs that I learnt by heart. Purbayan had music in his blood as his father Shri Parthapratim Chatterjee himself was a well known sitar player in his own right. Shri Parthapratim Chatterjee was a disciple of Pt. Nikhil Bannerjee and Ustad Ali Akbar.

Along with the eminent polishing of his talent by his father, Purbayan remained an excellent student at school and in music. Purbayan spent his college years at the prestigious Presidency College, Kolkata. He decided to take up music as his career at the age of 14; that was when he had just received the most distinguished honor for being the best instrumentalist of the country - The President of India Award.

Reading about Purbayan amazed me no end. Everyone should learn to develop their talents. Purbayan has proved his talent and represented India in all major India Festivals organized by the Government of India and other organizations in Bangladesh, Nepal, New Zealand, Australia, Indonesia, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago in the Caribbean, United States, Canada, UK, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, France, Greece, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Croatia, Malta, Seychelles, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, Dubai, Singapore, Belgium etc.

Purbayan's achievements ever since he was a child are truly remarkable. His life's journey would inspire any aspiring musician. It surely has inspired me or at least the rock star in me!

-Veena Shyam Krishna, Bespoken Words Team