Raag Purvi Pandit | Ajoy Chakrabarty

Raag Purvi Pandit | Ajoy Chakrabarty

Purvi or Poorvi (IAST: Pūrvī) is a raga in Hindustani classical music that exemplifies its own thaat, the Poorvi thaat. Purvi has a deeply serious, quiet and somewhat mystical character. It is uncommon in performances nowadays.
Raga-Kalpadruma: Charming and beautiful, scantily dressed, lotus-eyed Puravi appears at the end of the day. Idle and sleepy, she suffers from the pangs of separation and dreams only of her lover.[2]

Cattvarimsacchata-Raga-Nirupanam: Master of archery, seated on an elephant and dressed in white, Purvika has a splendid body and is served by all the different varnas.[2]

Raga-Sagara: I remember Purvika dressed in a garment woven with threads of gold. Fair and charming like the moon, she holds a cup of wine and a parrot in her hands and she is served by woman who are graceful and lively like the young deer. The head of her lover rests in her lap.[2]

Ajoy Chakrabarty was born in Kolkata, West Bengal. He was raised with his brother in Shyamnagar. His younger brother, Sanjay Chakrabarty, is a lyricist and composer.

He graduated top of his class in music, both in B.A and M.A. from the Rabindra Bharati University in Kolkata and joined the ITC Sangeet Research Academy in 1978 as its first scholar. Today he is one of the youngest gurus of this academy.

His father, Ajit Chakrabarty, was his first Guru. He then studied with Pannalal Samanta, Kanaidas Bairagi and Jnan Prakash Ghosh.[6]

Besides that, he had learnt from Latafat Hussain Khan, Nibruttibua Sarnaik, Hirabai Barodekar and in Carnatic styles from M. Balamuralikrishna, that kept enriching his musical expression and repertoire.[7] Despite having such pure classical "taleem" in the Khyal genre, he also renders lighter forms such as Thumri, Tappa, Bhajan, Kirtan, Folk, Film/Non-Film and modern songs, in several different languages.

He has received several prestigious awards including the Padma Shri (2011), Sangeet Natak Akademi Award (Delhi, 1999–2000), Kumar Gandharva National Award (1993) and the Best Male Playback Singer Award (Bengali Film "Chhandaneer" 1990) ("For bringing the rare depth of emotion, adorned by his command on the classical idiom") and National Tansen Samman 2015 - by the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.[8] He has also received felicitations from both the former and present Chief Ministers of his own State, West Bengal. In 2012, Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mamata Banerjee conferred him the Maha Sangeet Samman and the Banga Bibhushan, two of the State's highest awards. In 2015 he has received Guru Jnan Prakash Ghosh Lifetime Achievement Award.

He also was awarded honorary citizenship in New Orleans, after performing with jazz musicians at Preservation Hall, the birthplace of jazz music.