Get Lit: Purbayan Chatterjee Performs

Summary

Podcast Summary: All Of It with Alison Stewart — Get Lit: Purbayan Chatterjee Performs

Date: March 27, 2026
Episode Theme:
A rich conversation and performance with virtuosic sitar player Purbayan Chatterjee, exploring musical fusion, tradition, and innovation, in celebration of the book club selection "A Guardian and a Thief" by Megha Majumdar.

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Main Theme & Purpose

Alison Stewart’s “All Of It” episode spotlights Purbayan Chatterjee, a versatile sitar player from Kolkata, India. The episode connects music and literature, highlighting the intersections between Indian classical traditions and global jazz influences, in tandem with the book club pick centered on a future Kolkata. Chatterjee performs live, discusses his artistic journey, and offers insights into blending musical languages and cultures.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Live Performance: Raga Yaman Kalyan

• [00:39–07:14]
  • Purbayan Chatterjee opens with a live sitar performance in collaboration with tabla player Vivek Bandia.
  • The piece, "Raga Yaman Kalyan," blends classical Indian sensibility with dynamic improvisations.
  • Memorable moment: The performance receives an enthusiastic response from Alison and the audience.

2. Musical Roots and Influences

• Shredding on the Sitar

  • [07:31] Interviewer: “Can I say that you were shredding your sitar?”
  • [07:35] Chatterjee: “You’re allowed to say that.”
  • Chatterjee describes how watching guitarists, especially jazz musicians, influenced his sitar technique, fostering experimentation and genre cross-pollination.

• Meeting Pat Metheny

  • [07:46] Chatterjee: “I had the good fortune of hanging out and meeting Pat Metheny here in New York… He played my sitar and I played his guitar. And that’s how it all started.”
  • Initiated deeper exploration into jazz and global sounds.

3. Fusion: Bridging Eastern and Western Traditions

• Embracing Jazz

  • [08:25] Chatterjee: “Early 2000s is when I started listening to a lot of, you know, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman… and then this meeting with Pat Metheny was in 2009.”
  • Connecting with musicians like Chick Corea, Béla Fleck, and Snarky Puppy expanded his musical vocabulary.

• Challenges of Fusion

  • [09:04] Chatterjee:
    • “Every kind of musical culture has its own language and own building blocks. In our case, it's the raga… When you try to connect with Western forms… there’s a whole world of harmony out there.”
    • Shares a quote from Ustad Zakir Hussain:

      “Tradition is a point in time to which we feel like we are tethered. But it's also a moving point because we redefine tradition at several points in time.”

  • Chatterjee’s philosophy: Honor both inherited language and contemporary relevance when composing.

4. Origins and Personal Journey

• Prodigious Beginnings
  • [10:26] Chatterjee: “I started when I was five years old, so… very long time.”
  • Began with vocal music at age three, sitar at five; trained under his father, also his guru.
  • [10:38] Chatterjee: “I fought hard with my mom… I always thought that I could do this and make a living. And I think she had her doubts about it. I got a lot of support from my dad, though, because he was my guru and is my guru…he’s a musician himself.”
  • Chose music as a calling during his college years at Presidency College in Kolkata.

5. Unreleased Work & Creative Process

• Ode to Kolkata

  • [11:45] Chatterjee: “I wrote that song [for Kolkata], finished the production, got some 32 different artists, some of whom are no more…then I moved from Kolkata to Mumbai. So I guess I was a little ashamed to publish a song about Kolkata at that point.”
  • Deep personal ties to his hometown shape his creative expression.

• Upcoming Album Preview

  • [12:14] Chatterjee: Collaboration with Mark Lettieri (Snarky Puppy) for a new album mixing raga music, funk, jazz, and modern electronica.

    “This album has a lot of tradition and a lot of what’s considered contemporary.”

6. Music, Genres, and Human Behavior

• Universal Connection
  • [12:56] Chatterjee:

    “The fundamentals are the same across cultures, across different countries in the globe. It’s only the specifics which differ…as you interact with a larger number of people from larger number of cultures, you begin to learn more about yourself…that’s what goes into writing a book or writing a piece of music.”

  • Emphasizes learning and empathy across disciplines, linking music-making to broader human experiences.

7. Big Ears Music Festival & Outreach

• Spreading Indian Classical Music
  • [13:58] Chatterjee: “I think I’m going to be reaching out to an audience which is probably relatively uninitiated to Indian classical music. So I want to be able to spread the word…people are always talking about how spiritual and serene it is, which it is. But it’s also a lot of fun.”
  • Eager to share the joy and vibrancy of Indian music with new listeners.

8. Live Performance: "Mishra Pahadi"

• [14:27–17:27]
  • Chatterjee plays “Mishra Pahadi,” a raga with folk undertones and a 6/8 rhythmic cycle.
  • Announces it will appear on a future album, highlighting his ongoing creative process.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Naming a Sitar Performance:

  • [07:31] Interviewer: “Can I say that you were shredding your sitar?”
  • [07:35] Chatterjee: “You’re allowed to say that.”

• On Tradition:

  • [09:04] Chatterjee, quoting Zakir Hussain:

    “Tradition is a point in time to which we feel like we are tethered. But it’s also a moving point…”

• On Cultural Universality:

  • [12:56] Chatterjee:

    “The fundamentals are the same across cultures…as you interact with a larger number of people from larger number of cultures, you begin to learn more about yourself.”

• On the Joy of Indian Music:

  • [13:58] Chatterjee:

    “…people are always talking about how spiritual and serene it is, which it is. But it’s also a lot of fun.”

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:39 — Episode context: Kolkata, “A Guardian and a Thief,” guest intro
• 07:15 — Performance recap; Raga Yaman Kalyan named
• 08:10 — Influences from jazz greats and guitarist Pat Metheny
• 09:04 — Philosophical musings on tradition and fusion
• 10:26 — Early musical journey and family influences
• 11:45 — The unreleased Kolkata song story
• 12:14 — Details on upcoming album and collaboration
• 12:56 — Reflections on music, genre, and human behavior
• 13:58 — Anticipation for Big Ears Festival, the joy of Indian music
• 14:27 — Second live performance: “Mishra Pahadi”

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Conclusion

This episode uses music as a lens into culture, creativity, and community. Purbayan Chatterjee's story exemplifies how blending tradition with innovation can forge new artistic paths, and how music, like literature, is a universal language that bridges differences while celebrating individuality.

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Transcript

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[Alison Stewart]

You're listening to all of it on wnyc. I'm Alison Stewart. Our march get lit with all of it book club selection was the novel A Guardian and a Thief by Megha Majumdar. The story takes place in a future version of Kolkata, India, that has been utterly transformed by climate change. So we were thrilled that for our get lit event we were joined by a musical guest who also calls Kolkata his hometown. Prabhayan Chatterjee is a virtuosic sitar player whose work combines Indian classical music with global genre fusion. He has played with Bella Fleck, Herbie Hancock and the late Zakir Hussain. He actually changed his flight from India in order to join us for our event. You'll hear my conversation with Prabhayan in just a moment. But first, here he is with a special performance alongside tabla player Vivek Bandia.

[Interviewer]

That was extraordinary. What was the name of that song?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

So this is a raga, which is called Raga Yaman and. And then we have various varieties of it. And this was actually called Yaman Kalyan.

[Alison Stewart]

It almost sounded like.

[Interviewer]

Can I say that you were shredding your sitar?

[Alison Stewart]

Yes.

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

You're allowed to say that.

[Interviewer]

I read in an interview that you said you watched guitar players and it changed the way you thought about how you could play the sitar. Could explain that a little bit.

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

Yes. Lots of guitar players, actually, I had the good fortune of. And that's how it all started. You know, my foray into jazz music or into other forms of music. I had the good fortune of hanging out and meeting Pat Metheny here in New York. Yeah. In his home studio. And he played my sitar and I played his guitar. And that's how it all started.

[Interviewer]

It's interesting when you think about sort of, you play Indian classical music, but you, you have broadened out into this, this global genre of jazz and different kinds of music. When did your interest in jazz really start?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

So I think early 2000s is when I started listening to a lot of, you know, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, all of that. And then onwards to this meeting with Pat. Pat Metheny was in 2009 and I think. And then I subsequently met people like Chick Coria, Bela Fleck and onwards to Snarky Puppy. And I got a chance to play with them very recently and they became great friends of mine.

[Interviewer]

What's challenging about combining traditional music with contemporary music?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

Well, I think, you know, if you forget the tradition and what is contemporary, I think you first need to look at musical language and genre. And every kind of musical culture has its own language and own building blocks. In our case, it's the raga. It's, it's more or less modal in nature. And when you try to connect with, with any Western form of music, then the, there's a whole world of harmony out there. But when I, you know, started to kind of look at trying to bridge the gap, I first started learning some of the other traditions of the world and, and I think I've come to a point where now I think, you know, because the word tradition is just so relative and I'm quoting the great Ustad Zakir Hussain and he said tradition is, is a point in time to which we feel like we are tethered. But it's also a moving point because we redefine tradition at, at, at several points in. So I try to kind of, you know, keep in mind when I compose or when I, when I write for an album, keep in mind the language that I've been taught. But I also try to keep in mind a language that will be relevant to, to larger numbers of people.

[Interviewer]

How long have you been playing the sitar?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

I started when I was five years old, so. Very long time.

[Interviewer]

You're a prodigy. You were a prodigy growing up. When did it become clear to you that music was going to be your career?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

So incidentally, I, I grew up in the same city as, as Megha, as you know, Kolkata. And I started learning music at the age of three. Vocal music and then the sitar at the age of five. And I went to a school which is called the Calcutta Boys School. And I fought, fought hard with my mom. You know, I always thought that I could do this and I could make a living. And I think she had her doubts about it. I got a lot of support from my dad, though, because he, he, he was, you know, he was my guru and he is my guru and you know, he, he's a musician himself. I think when in my first year of college I went to this College called Presidency College. In my first year of college, when I was hanging out with, with my peers and my, you know, college mates, I, I found this calling increasingly within me where I, I, I kind of decided that I was, it was either going to be this or nothing else.

[Interviewer]

As you said, you're from Kolkata and you were involved with making a song for the city. Is that true?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

I was. And I haven't published it yet.

[Interviewer]

Oh, not yet.

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

You know, funnily enough, I wrote that song, finished the production, I got some 32 different artists, some of who are no more. And then as I finished mixing and mastering that song, I moved from Kolkata to Mumbai. So I guess I was a little ashamed to publish a song. Kolkata at that point.

[Interviewer]

I understand you have a new album that's going to be coming out. What can you, it's not out yet, but what can you tell us about it?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

This is very exciting for me because I've worked with Mark Lethierry, who is part of the Snarky Puppy Band, and we've created this album which is a potpourri of raga music, of funk, jazz, which is what Mark does, and a lot of modern electronica. So I can just say that this album has a lot of tradition and a lot of what's considered contemporary.

[Interviewer]

It's interesting.

[Alison Stewart]

What do you think people can learn

[Interviewer]

about the way you make music, the way you break down between genres? What can people learn about human behavior that way?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

I think human behavior, the way we

[Alison Stewart]

deal with one another.

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

Yeah. I mean, it's so different, yet so similar in, in my travels across the world, I've seen that. I think the fundamentals are the same across cultures, across different countries in the globe. It's only the specifics which, which differ. There are, you know, protocol, which, there's protocol which changes and there's, there's maybe language and there's, there's culture. I think as you interact with larger number of people from larger number of cultures, you begin to learn more about yourself. And that's what goes into, you know, writing a book or writing a piece of music. It's all the same. I think you get better at it as you learn more about yourself.

[Interviewer]

You're going to be at the Big Ears Music Festival in Tennessee on March 28th. What are you looking forward to about that gig?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

I've heard a lot about this festival and I think I'm going to be reaching out to an audience which is probably relatively uninitiated to Indian classical music. So I want to be able to spread the word. Every time I perform for a new audience, I want to tell people how much fun Indian music is because people are always talking about how spiritual and how serene it is, which it is. But it's also a lot of fun.

[Interviewer]

What are you going to play for us? The next song? What are we going to hear?

[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

So I've thought about this raga called Mishra Pahadi, which has got folk, you know, undertones to it. And this is something that I have written for another album which I'm going to publish in the next couple of years once this one's out. And it's called Mishra Pahari. It's in a 6, 8 rhythmic cycle. Sa.

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Sa.

[Alison Stewart]

That was sitar player Pabayan Chatterjee with a special live performance from our March get lit with Olivet event. And that is all of it for today. Our April get lit selection is the novel Lake Effect by Cynthia Dupri Sweeney. To find out more, head to wnyc.org getlit I appreciate you listening and I appreciate you have a great weekend and I'll meet you back here next time.

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[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

Uh, yeah.

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[Prabhayan Chatterjee]

It's native.