PANNALAL GHOSH

Born at Barisal, now in Bangla Desh, on 31st July, 1911, Pannalal Ghosh, the unrivalled master of the flute, was only 48 when he died in 1960. Yet he earned for himself a unique place in the annals of Indian classical music. He not only pioneered the introduction of 'gayaki' to woodwind but also enlarged the scope of the instrument to encompass wider fields of classical form and design. The flute thus underwent a truly marvellous elevation from a simple pastoral medium to a concert instrument when Pannalal picked it up as his medium of expression. Those who had the rare privilege of listening to his recital in the simple ragas will never forget his ingenuity. Strange but true, he had not found his real guru, Ustad Allauddin Khan, till he was 36. Pannalal learnt not only the technique of raga development, but underwent a thorough training in the raga-system and its latent evocative strains.

Pannalal Ghosh was associated with All India Radio as the composer and conductor of National orchestra at Delhi and he had composed quite a few orhestral and thematic music of rare splendour baed on India melodies and rhythm.