After releasing a stellar album Unbounded – Abaad, which featured legendary musicians like Bela Fleck and Ustad Zakir Hussain, Indian sitar player and composer Purbayan Chatterjee is set to release a new album, Saath Saath, with flautist and lifelong friend, Rakesh Chaurasia.
The duo released a new track Yaman Drut – the second single from the seven-track album earlier this week.
Recorded in Mumbai earlier this year, Saath Saath features seven ragas for morning and night and is scheduled for release on September 9. Co-written with Rakesh Chaurasia – nephew of the legendary flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia – the record draws inspiration from the original spirit of the raga tradition and presents a beautiful aural experience.
The album was recorded in one or sometimes two takes, and the album’s progress follows the passing of day and night, with the first half of the album dedicated to the more soothing morning ragas and the latter night ragas, building to a crescendo-like in Yaman Drut.
"The Yaman Drut bandish is a little bit of a crescendo piece in the album. The main inspiration behind this is, what we can achieve when we work saath saath, when we work together. A musical synergy is the best form of team spirit, the magic that you can achieve when four people come together – that’s the inspiration," says the musician.
With his music, Purbayan aims to bridge cultures as he searches for new voices, interpreting the classical approach in new and innovative ways. While Saath Saath sticks closest to the spirit and traditions of the ragas in style and sound, it’s also an evolution from Purbayan’s progressive take-on Indian classical music.
This approach began in earnest after a moment of epiphany on one of his many trips to California during the 1990s when he’d make the musical pilgrimage and immerse himself at the Ali Akbar College of Music, founded by the great sarod master, Ustad Ali Akbar.
“It was during these visits, with some downtime, I first heard the sounds and far-out jazz of Ornette Coleman and asked myself, ‘Is it alright to enjoy this so much?’ After much internal protestation, I realised, in order to deeply immerse yourself in tradition, one needs outside influence,” says Purbayan. Clearly, that conclusion has forever been enshrined through his work.
Purbayan’s previous recording Unbounded Abaad from 2021 was in collaboration with banjo player Bela Fleck and the eminent Ustad Zakir Hussein among many others on a progressive jazz-rock opus.
Purbayan and Rakesh have been friends for over two decades, and have steered a similar musical path, experimenting outside of the classical tradition. Literally meaning ‘doing something together’, Saath Saath brings Purbayan and Rakesh's chemistry and friendship to the fore, and through their instruments, the sitar and the flute, show the intimate dynamism between the pair, two uniting souls.
Ahead of the album’s release, Purbayan and Rakesh will perform at the venerated venue, New York’s Carnegie Hall - accompanied by Ojas Adhiya on tabla and Taufiq Qureshi on percussion - on August 14, and in Jaipur on August 20 as a duo.
‘Yaman Drut’ is available on all streaming platforms.