"Inheritance is what you make of it"- Purbayan Chatterjee
Updated on: 21 November, 2022 01:25 PM IST | Priyak Dhar
Purbayan Chatterjee is considered as one of the finest Sitar players in Indian Classical music. He belongs to the famous Senia Maihar Gharana, the school established by musical genius Baba Allauddin Khan, the guru of such stars as Ustad Ali Akbar Khan on the sarod and sitar players Pandit Ravi Shankar and Pandit Nikhil Banerjee. Along with his concerts of North Indian raga music, he also performs with musicians rom the South Indian raga tradition and participates in various fusion projects with jazz and world musicians all over the globe. His musical journey began under his father Shri Parthapratim Chatterjee’s tutelage. On being asked about the pressure of inheriting musical knowledge, Purbayan Chatterjee quickly explains
"Inheritance is what you make of it. On its own it does have an intrinsic value because it has been passed on to you through generations and you are lucky that you did not have to go and acquire it but the value of it diminishes in time if you can’t make it grow. Inheritance of art is very similar to inheritance of wealth. A prime example of it is Dhirubhai Ambani and what the Ambani brothers, Mukesh and Anil have done with the wealth that they acquired. It is not just the wealth but also the infrastructure that they built around it and also the business kingdom they carried forward. In music you may inherit your “taalim“ you may inherit your musical knowledge but your musical vision is your own, nobody else can give you that. You have go to figure that out on your own. It’s what you do with the inheritance, what you leave behind is what matters."
