Sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee with Shubha Mudgal

Kaanta laga, Staying alive? or Raga Bhairavi? For mobile phone-wielders, the choice will soon be a reality.

An initiative is on to dig into the repertoire of Indian classical music and produce ringtones based on ragas.

Sitarist Purbayan Chatterjee, regarded in the national music circles as among those with the most promising fingers on the stringed instrument, is working on the Raga Tones project.

?The idea came to me while interacting with Shubhaji (Mudgal) some time ago,? says Purbayan, speaking from Mumbai, where he is currently performing in a string of concerts.

?I hope to involve her in this project at a later date,? he says, adding that there would be a need for similar efforts on other instruments as well.

The time allotted will be about 15 to 30 seconds, the average duration of a ring. When it takes more than an hour to bring a raga to its full bloom, how sufficient are a few seconds to bring out its characteristics?

Purbayan plans to use a couple of lines from well-known bandishes, like Eriyali piya bina. ?That is enough for people to identify Raga Yaman,? he explains. He also plans a few original compositions based on bandishes.

It will take some time, though ? mid-2005 ? before the ragas are within downloadable reach, as tomorrow?s technology is being used.

?The latest polyphonic tones create the impact of several electronic instruments playing. But this will come in truetone technology, which can simulate even the pluck of the sitar strings,? he explains.

Winter is also the season for concerts around the country, making all musicians of repute live out of the suitcase. ?It is best not to rush,? he smiles.

Purbayan, whose album with violinist Kala Ramnath, Samwad, has hit the Top 10 for 2004 in the international charts of the world music journal Songlines, is happy that ragas will reach out to GenX in a musical form that youngsters use and appreciate. ?The works of Bach, Beethoven and Mozart have been available even from the days of monophonic ringtones. It is sad that we Indians did not bother to make available what is so intrinsically ours,? says the 29-year-old, who once composed a tune based on khambaj using the melody composer facility on his phone. ?In Germany, every city has a symphonic orchestra supported by the government. No such luck here. No one takes interest.?

In a situation where music is treated as a demand-driven product in the market, it makes sense to use technology to reach out. ?I plan to start with 20 ringtones,? says Purbayan, who has been ?extremely excited? about the project ever since it materialised during his Europe tour earlier this year.