Together We Play

Hindustani classical musicians Purbayan Chatterjee and Rakesh Chaurasia have collaborated on an album that makes audible their affection for each other

- Bhanuj Kappal

In early March, sitar maestro Purbayan Chatterjee and flautist Rakesh Chaurasia headed to a small studio in their hometown Mumbai to work on a new record. At the time, Chatterjee was riding high on the success of his 2021 album Unbounded (Abaad), a progressive jazz/rock/Hindustani classical extravaganza that packed in stellar performances by a star cast of global virtuosos, including Ustad Zakir Hussain, Béla Fleck, Michael League and Shankar Mahadevan.

But now he and Chaurasia-accompanied by Satyajit Talwalkar and Ojas Adhiya on tablawere on a slightly different mission. With the easy chemistry that only comes from decades of friendship and collaboration, the duo recorded seven tracks of free-flowing raga-based jugalbandi, nailing most of their takes in one go. The result of that freewheeling recording session is the new album, Saath Saath, which was released independently in September.