KEEPING IT COOL

Sitar maestro PURBAYAN CHATTERJEE set out to show that classical music can be cool and now has a transparent 'see-tar' to prove it

- Bhanuj Kappal

Sometime in 2014, sitar maestro Purbayan Chatterjee set out to remind us that Indian classical music was actually pretty damn cool. After all, it's got all the necessary ingredients: there's the improvisational virtuosity that rivals the best of jazz music, jugalbandi's electric on-stage interactivity, and a recent history of globetrotting collaboration and innovation (including plenty of celebrated fusion projects by Chatterjee himself). Maybe it's just the context within which so many of us encounter this music-one dominated by traditionalists and hidebound purists-that prevents us from seeing its inherent coolness.