Sitarist-singer duo set for Alchemy fest

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It’s “London dreams” for the Indian performer-duo sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee and singer Shankar Mahadevan. After wooing music lovers across the world with several creative collaborations, reputed singer-composer Mahadevan and sitar ace Chatterjee now promise to present yet another border-breaking jugalbandi at the Alchemy in the Queen’s country.

Organised by Southbank Centre, the internationally-acclaimed Alchemy Festival returns for the third consecutive year in London, to skim through the abundant richness, contrasts and coalitions prevalent between UK, India and across the South Asian territories. Annually, this elaborate musical extravaganza features a tapestry of programmes including contemporary traditional music, dance, debate, literature, film, craft and fashion events. This year, the happening musical endeavour will kickstart on April 12 and go on till April 22.
In a career spanning over 25 years, despite being a conventional classical sitar player right at the beginning of his musical journey, Chatterjee has voraciously indulged his creative conscience into several world music genres. He evolved with time and gave way to experimental music by merging traditional Indian classical strains with the current day sounds and beats.
He along with his popular band String Struck has performed around globe at some of the world’s greatest music venues and festivals. The flourishing sitarist therefore likes to classify his band under the genre of Indian jazz. “It’s an aesthetic connect between us that brings us together to a musical confluence time and again. Music lovers generally long for such mélange of novel and eclectic music,” said Chatterjee, about his frequent collaborations with Mahadevan.
The sitar master has worked with some of the world’s most extraordinary artistes and has also been an integral part of hip bands like Remember Shakti, SILK and Mynta.
Expressing his happiness about being part of Alchemy, Mahadevan says: “The concert will be a unique mishmash of diverse cultures. We’ll play varied genres of music ranging from the traditional Indian classical to today’s improvised strains to the pulsating western elements.”
“About Purbayan, I can only vouch for the fact that he interprets music in a different way. He has an appetite for innovation, and keeps working upon new things,” he raves.
Talking about his experience of performing with Mahadevan, Chatterjee says, “It is always delightful and enlightening to perform alongside Shankarji. I always pick up some finer nuances or the other every time that I jam with him at any public performance. Look, I’ve no qualms in declaring
that he’s a school in himself.”