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BENGAL CLASSICAL MUSIC FEST'13

Sitar paragons under spotlight

Staff Correspondent
In the build-up to the Bengal Classical Music Festival 2013 in association with ITC-SRA (Kolkata), Star Arts & Entertainment introduces you to the maestros set to perform in Dhaka next month. Today's edition of the series features two masters of the sitar; despite being different and distinctive on many counts, the two are loved equally by classical music aficionados.***
Ustad Rais Khan
Rais Khan (born November 25, 1939) belongs to a family of sitarists of the Etawah Gharana, with the most notable being his maternal uncle, the great Ustad Vilayat Khan, who greatly influenced Rais' style. Rais Khan is the torchbearer of the Mewat or Mewati Gharana, which is connected to Indore and the 'beenkar baj gayaki ang' (singing style combined with rudra veena approaches) carried out by Rais Khan's
father Mohammed Khan, a rudra veena player and sitarist. Despite his extensive meend work and the gandhar pancham sitar style he uses, Rais Khan's alap, gaut and gamak work is different in approach, pacing, and even technique from the Etawah style.
As Rais Khan's mother was a singer and his father was a beenkar, a unique combination of Khayal, Dhrupad and Thumri ang
developed in his playing. He gave his first public concert at Sunderbai Hall in the presence of the then Governor of Bombay Sir Maharaja Singh. He is also a vocalist and was the first one to record the song “Ghungroo Toot Gaye” for BBC London in 1978. Like Vilayat Khan, he often sings and demonstrates compositions.
The third of his four sons, Farhan Khan,
is also an emerging talent in sitar.
Purbayan Chatterjee
Purbayan Chatterjee (born September 12, 1976) is a much younger counterpart of Ustad Rais Khan, and from a very different part of the subcontinent. He learned sitar from his father Parthapratim Chatterjee, a disciple of Pt. Nikhil Banerjee and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.
However, he has stepped out of the purist school of classical music, attempting to amalgamate the masterful craft of Indian classical sitar with contemporary world music genres. His prodigious talent on the instrument began to show at a young age; he was a recipient of the President of India Award for being the Best Instrumentalist of the country at the age of 15. Thereafter, Purbayan Chatterjee has masterminded the collaboration named Shastriya Syndicate, where he and his five friends — each an exponent of a traditional musical instrument -- have bridged the gap between classical and contemporary music. He has released albums from Germany, UK and India. Apart from performing several times with Tabla legend Ustad Zakir Hussain, Purbayan Chatterjee is also a vocalist, and has sung a duet with Shankar Mahadevan.