Purbayan Chatterjee

Purbayan Chatterjee is an Indian sitar maestro based in Mumbai, known for combining the classical tradition with modern musical forms. He began learning the sitar from his father, Parthapratim Chatterjee, and his music reflects the lyrical sound associated with Pt. Nikhil Banerjee. He showed strong talent from a young age and was honoured with the Rashtrapati Award as the Best Instrumentalist of India. 

His Performance career spans prestigious stages worldwide, both as a soloist and as part of collaborative groups. Shastriya Syndicate is regarded as one of the first Indian classical bands with a contemporary approach; it has performed at well-known festivals around the world, such as Roskilde (Denmark), Traumzeit (Germany), and OzAsia (Australia). The track Dwo from his project Stringstruck, featuring vocals by Shankar Mahadevan, became widely known and helped the album win the Palm IRAA Award for Best World Music Album. 

Purbayan has also experimented with instrument design, creating the Dwo, a modern variant of the sitar intended for new musical contexts. He has received awards such as the Aditya Vikram Birla Award and recognition from Rotary International.